Knox, Robert

by Linde Lunney

Knox, Robert (1815/16–1883), presbyterian minister, was born in Clady, Co. Tyrone, third son of Hugh Knox, probably a farmer, who was ruling elder in Urney presbyterian church. There may also have been at least four daughters. His mother (whose name is unknown) died when he was still very young; he was educated in Strabane, in Old College, Belfast (a part of RBAI that issued certificates to ministerial students before the foundation of QCB), and in Glasgow University, whence he graduated in 1837 with his MA. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Strabane, and for a short time was a missionary in the south of Ireland; several congregations, including Enniscorthy, are said to have been formed out of his preaching stations. In 1842 he was unanimously called by the congregation of New Row, Coleraine; here he was ordained (10 June 1842), but remained only nine months before becoming minister (April 1843) of Linenhall St., Belfast. The rest of his life was spent in this congregation; he was noted for his commitment to church extension and educational development. He published a pamphlet on the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, and was awarded an hon. DD (1863) by Schnectady University, New York. Three Belfast churches (Dundela, Newington, and Westbourne) and one in Ballynahinch, Co. Down, owed their formation to his influence, and he initiated the establishment of at least five national schools in different parts of the city. He was a founder of the Sabbath School Society of Ireland, was prominent in the Belfast Town Mission and other philanthropic endeavours, and was founding editor of the Irish Presbyterian, a monthly periodical. He was particularly enthusiastic about the Pan-Presbyterian council, a body which he hoped would tend to bring together the different strands of presbyterianism; he represented the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at the first meeting of the council in Edinburgh in 1877, and also at its second meeting in Philadelphia in 1880. He was charged with sole responsibility for organising the council's planned 1884 meeting in Belfast, and also assisted in arrangements for the visit to Belfast of the evangelists Moody and Sankey. Overwork and the lasting consequences of exertions on his transatlantic voyage are said to have worsened a heart condition, and he died after a long illness at his home in Windsor Park, Belfast, on 16 August 1883. He was buried in the Belfast borough cemetery.

Knox did not marry until 1870. His wife, whose maiden name was Gilbert, was from Belfast and seems to have been younger than her husband. There were no children, and she subsequently married again. Knox's will provided for her during her lifetime, but the residue of his estate, valued at £8,000–£10,000, was to be used for the evangelisation of the lapsed masses of the poor of England.