Early life, education and training
editKnighton was born in 1776 at Bere Ferrers, Devon - the third generation of that name - into a family of well-to-do and literate yeomen-farmers. By a second advantageous marriage, his grandfather joined the ranks of the landed gentry and raised a second family so designated, while his first, elder son remained a 'farmer'. This distinction, in that era's highly stratified society, sparked Knighton's self admitted will-to-succeed – the more so since he apparently retained a distorted version of early events.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
At around twelve Knighton was sent to a boarding school at Newton Bushell in East Devon, where he spent some four years acquiring literacy, arithmetic, Greek and Latin. In September, 1793, he was apprenticed to Dr. William Bredall of Tavistock, a surgeon-apothocary with a wide and diverse practice who was also the husband of Knighton's aunt, Mary. Bredall's training and example deeply influenced Knighton's subsequent career. During this period he also made two important professional contacts: contemporary Stephen Hammick, who was training at the Royal Naval Hospital at Plymouth, and Dr Francis Geach, its senior surgeon. Geach started him writing up case notes, which were the only means by which an experienced physician could evaluate a student, and was a vital tool to communicating with contemporaries.[1][2]
War broke out between France and England in 1793; in 1795 his step-aunt Frances' husband arranged a commission for Knighton as a second lieutenant in the Tavistock Volunteer Corps. While probably expensive, this commission conferred several benefits: it exempted him from militia service (possibly under his 'gentleman' step-uncle John Moore Knighton); it prevented his deployment overseas while allowing him to continue his apprenticeship, and it conferred status as "a gentleman."[1]