John Knight

John Frederick Knight

The Knight Family were farmers at Park Farm, Melbourne. In 1900 their son John Frederick Knight responded to a call for volunteers to form cavalry units to fight in the Second Boer War*.

He was given a rousing send off by his friends and family at the Melbourne Hotel (now Harpers) where 100 subscribers had raised the money to buy him useful items and a purse of money. The church choir, which he had been a member of for many years, also presented him with useful gifts for his expedition.

He sailed for South Africa in February 1900 as part of the Derbyshire Imperial Yeomanry.

In May 1900 he was taken prisoner by the Boers, when out scouting and though his death occurred on May 30^th it was another 3 months before his parents heard about it.

The marble tablet was erected in his memory by a number of his friends.

*The Second Boer War started in October 1899, (a war in South Africa against the Boer (Dutch) settlers). In December of that year the British Army suffered a number of disastrous defeats. They realised that the Boers were using mainly cavalry units armed with automatic rifles while the British were still relying on lines of infantry.

It was decided to immediately raise cavalry units of volunteers called the Imperial Yeomanry in January 1900. The Derbyshire Imperial Yeomanry was raised, and sailed to South Africa in February of that year.