D John Knight
11th May 1938 – 2nd February 2025
John Knight (‘Knightly’) was a real character, always entertaining and genuinely a good person to be with. He was one of the funniest bellringers ever, a legend. He’d always have a song, rhyme or saying to hand and could always lift the mood.
It is not known where he was born. John said he had early memories of women in long white aprons and thought they could have been caring for him in a Barnardo’s home. He was later cared for by an “auntie” who wasn’t a blood relative, a Miss Knight. They are understood to have lived in Shroton, opposite the bus stop. John inherited the house and was living there until the 1990s.
He did National Service, mainly ending up on kitchen duties due to misdemeanours. In the 1980s he worked as a carpenter in Durweston for a Mr Hardy, a brother of Stourpaine ringer Ivor Hardy. By the 1990s, the house in Shroton was in a bit of a state. No ceilings downstairs, as a water leak had brought them down and Knightly never replaced them. Later he lodged in Bradford Peverell and then had a flat in Yeovil. He ended his days in a McCarthy & Stone flat in Wells.
John rang in North Dorset towers in his early days – Shroton, Iwerne Minster, Blandford, Bryanston, Okeford Fitzpaine. He rang at many other towers on grabs, outings, canal trips and peals. There are many stories about John’s ringing antics. If his rope was too long, he would stand in an inverted box. He was agile and could walk down a vertical ladder with his back to the ladder. He was a great tea drinker. It was a treat to watch the reaction of anyone who was meeting him for the first time. When he was drinking stronger brews than tea, he had a few incidents – on one occasion he fell off his bike, was unconscious in hospital for a few days, coming round after bellringing recordings were played to him. When ringing the treble, he would announce the start of ringing by saying ‘Treble stay leaving the slider…’ or ‘Bells to the balance please children, and off we go!’
John joined the Guild in 1965 and, according to PealBase, he rang 859 peals, his first on 27th March 1967 at Child Okeford, called by William T Perrins, and his last on 16th October 2018 at Sutton Veny. His most prolific year was 2002 when he rang 129 peals. He rang 500 peals for the Dorset County Association and his most popular tower was Huntsham (122), followed by Maiden Newton (43) and Cattistock (30). He rang peals with 352 people. Tim Collins was his leading ringer with 750 peals, calling 697 of them. Apart from some peals inside to Plain or simple Surprise methods, John tended to ring the treble or the tenor behind.
All who knew him smile when they think of him. A true character, may he rest in peace.
John Schmidt
[Photos – some from canal trips and an earlier one from a peal at Vale in 1976 with John hanging from the ladder]
