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ARTHUR LEE KNIGHT was a popular author of adventure books in the late 19th and early 20th century. His birth was registered in St. Thomas, Devon, in 1852. His father was the Rev. T.H. Knight. His mother died at his birth and he was brought up by his father.
Around 1868 he joined the navy at the age of sixteen as a junior midshipman. He served on HMS Forte, a 51-gun screw frigate launched in 1858, and visited such far-flung places as India, Muscat (near which picturesque port they caught a slaver with ninety slaves on board), Mauritius, Zanzibar, Port Mozambique, Cape Town. St. Helena, Ascension, Sierra Leone, Canary Islands, Madeira, Lisbon, Malta, and Venice.
When the Forte was in Calcutta the Viceroy of India, Lord Mayo, entertained Knight and the other officers royally, as Lord Mayo’s son Maurice was also a midshipman on board the frigate.
On 13 Dec 1878 he Knight married Dora Ann Stewart (1856-1912) in Northam, Devon, where they lived. They did not have any children.
By 1886 Arthur Lee Knight had been retired on half-pay by the admiralty. During this unhappy time he decided to turn to writing and published his first book In the Web of Destiny.
Having been a midshipman in the Royal Navy he was familiar with the setting and the language in the navy. This made his naval adventure stories realistic and readable.
Knight died on 7 July 1944
* Abdul the Interpreter (serial) - The Boy's Own Paper, Oct 19, Oct 26, 1907 * Adventures of a Gunroom Monkey (stories) - Wells Gardner, Darton, London, 1902 * Assisi, the Seraphic City (non-fiction) - G. Cecchi & Son, Florence, 1908 * Aubrey Vernon (novel) Subtitle: A Midshipman's Adventures - T.C. & E.C. Jack, London, 1907 - T. Nelson & Sons, London, 1925 * Basil Woollcombe, Midshipman (novel) - W. & R. Chambers, London, 1891 * Bill Sloggett's Adventure (story) Subtitle: A Thrill Ashore on the East African Coast - The Boy's Own Paper, Sep 1924 * The Brother-Middies; and Slavers, Ahoy! (novels) - Sampson Lowe, Marston &: Company, London, 1894 * By Love and the Sword, and Other Tales (stories) - Somerset County Gazette, Taunton, England, 1943 * The Cayman Island Treasure (serial) - The Boy's Own Paper, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct 1916 * The Cruise of the "Cormorant" (novel) Subtitle Treasure-Seekers of the Orient - 1893 * The Cruise of the "Theseus" Subtitle: A Yarn for Boys - Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, London, 1889 * Dicky Beaumont: His Perils and Adventures (novel) Illustrated by W.S. Stacey - Ward, Lock & Company, London, 1890 and 1893 * Drifted to Sea (novel) - Ernest Nister; E.P. Dutton & Company, London, New York, 1902 * The Gunroom Heroes (novel) Subtitle: Adventures with Arabs Afloat and Ashore - Frederick Warne & Company, London, 1894 * In Jungle and Kraal (novel) - W.P. Nimmo, Hay & Mitchell, Edinburgh, 1894 * In the Web of Destiny (novel) Subtitle: The Strange Adventures Of Lieut. Fairlie, R.N. - Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, London, 1887 * It Was a Narrow Squeak (serial) - The Boy's Own Paper, Jul 11, Jul 18, Jul 25, Aug 1, 1896 * Jack Trevor, R.N. (novel) - Frederick Warne and Company, London, 1890 * Leaves from a Middy's Log (stories) - Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, 1896 * Lost in a Ceylon Jungle (articles) - The Boy's Own Paper Nov 21, Nov 28, Dec 5, Dec 12, Dec 19, Dec 26, 1891 * The Mad Interpreter (novel) - Grant Richards, London, 1903 * Memorable Balloon Ascents (article) - The Boy's Own Paper Apr 21, 1906 * The Middy and the Monkey, and Other Tales (stories) - Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, London, 1906 * The Mid of the Maintop (novel) - Ernest Nister; E.P. Dutton & Company, London, New York, 1900 * A Mid of the Naval Brigade (novel) Subtitle: Vivian Vansittart, V.C. - Frederick Warne and Company, London, 1895 * The Mids of the "Rattlesnake" (novel) Subtitle: Thrilling adventures with Illanun pirates, and Ned Burton's adventures in the Fiji Islands - Ward, Lock & Company, London, 1889 * The Mutiny of the Mumjums (novel) Subtitle: A Fantasy for Children Illustrated by E. Stuart Hardy - William Brendon & Son, Plymouth, England, 1911 * My Sea-Daddy and I (novel) - Somerset County Gazette, Taunton, England, 1940 * Perugia, Queen of Umbrian Cities (non-fiction) - G. Cecchi & Son, Florence, 1910 * Petals from a Florentine Lily (non-fiction) - G. Cecchi & Son, Florence, 1908 * The Rajah of Monkey Island (novel) - Ward, Lock & Company, London, 1892 * Ronald Hallifax (novel) Subtitle: He Would be a Sailor, etc. - Frederick Warne and Company, London, 1887 * A Sea-King's Midshipman (novel) - John Murray, London, 1900 * Siena, the City of Winged Thought (non-fiction) - Succ. B. Seeber, Florence, 1914 * "Swingtail Grinner," King of the Monkeys, and Other Tales - Somerset County Gazette, Taunton, England, 1935 * Told in the Indian Twilight (stories) Subtitle, Mahratta Fairy Tales - G. Allen & Company, London, 1913 * The Two Midshipmen (story) - Atalanta, Feb 1891 - Romance, Oct 1893 * Under the White Ensign (novel) Subtitle: Queen and Empire - Jarrold & Sons, London, 1897 * A Visit to a Ceylon Coffee Estate (article) - Cassell's Family Magazine, Aug 1883 * A Visit to the Britannia Training Ship (articles) - The Boy's Own Paper, Oct 3, Oct 10, 1885 * A Wanderer's Memories (non-fiction) Illustrated with sketches by the author, etc. - Somerset County Gazette, Taunton, England, 1937 * The Young Rajah (novel) - Ernest Nister; E.P. Dutton & Company, London, New York, 1899
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