He was born at
Braunton,
Devon, on 14 April 1787, the fourth child of Richard Knill, a carpenter (died 15 December 1826), and Mary Tucker (died 1826). In 1804 he enlisted as a soldier, and was shortly afterwards bought out by his friends. He became a student of the Western Academy at
Axminster in 1812, and under the influence of a sermon by Dr.
Alexander Waugh, volunteered for missionary work. He was accepted by the
London Missionary Society, and embarked for Madras 20 April 1816, with another missionary,
Charles Mead, who was taking up a post as successor to
William Tobias Ringeltaube. There he engaged in English services for the schools, soldiers and residents, while studying the native languages. His health soon failed, and he was sent in September 1818 to Nágarkoil in Travancore; After suffering from the cholera, he returned to England on 30 November 1819. A cold climate was recommended, and he sailed on 18 October 1820 for
St. Petersburg, intending to proceed to
Siberia as a missionary. On the persuasion of the British and Americans, he agreed to remain there, where his work obtained the support of the emperor and the royal family. He also met various members of the Russian nobility, including several of the Golitsyn family, especially Prince
Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn who served as President of the Russian Bible Society. He was a friend of
John Venning and
John Paterson who were missionaries as well as advocates of Russian prison reform. A Protestant Bible Society was formed for supplying the Bible in their own tongues to Germans, Finns, Poles, Livonians and other persons not belonging to the Greek church. A school was opened for the children of foreigners, and a mission to the sailors at
Kronstadt Knill was overjoyed to learn of Spurgeon's ministry and wrote to Spurgeon's grandfather in 1855 to express this. Spurgeon later preached for Knill in Chester. Knill died at 28 Queen Street,
Chester, England on 2 January 1857. ==Personal life==