Samuel McKnight

Bank: The Royal Bank of Scotland

Place of work: Head Office, Edinburgh

Died: 29 September 1918

Samuel McKnight was born in Kilmarnock in 1894, the only son of James McKnight, an engine fitter, and his wife Agnes. He attended Hamilton School until 1906, and then Kilmarnock Academy.

In November 1909, when he was 16 years old, Samuel McKnight went to work as an apprentice in the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Kilmarnock branch. In October 1914 he transferred to head office in Edinburgh, where he worked in the inspector’s department.

In March 1915 Samuel McKnight enlisted, initially in the Cameron Highlanders. Three months later he transferred to the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment). In February 1916 he was promoted from the rank of temporary Second Lieutenant to temporary Lieutenant. In the same year he was wounded, and was mentioned in despatches. In 1917 he was promoted to Captain.

Captain McKnight was killed in action in Belgium on 29 September 1918. He was 24 years old and left a widow, Mary Helen, whom he had married earlier that month. 

The McKnight Memorial Library at Grange Academy, as Hamilton School is now known, is named in McKnight's honour. He is also commemorated on a bank war memorial at 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.