Knichin, Charles

Knichin, Charles a minister of the Church of England, was one of the Oxford Methodists, and a fellow of Corpus Chisti College. He left Oxford at about the same time the Wesleys did, and became rector of Dummer, a small village of about four hundred inhabitants. In his parish he kept up the habits of the Oxford Methodists, visited from house to house, catechised the children, and had public prayers twice each day. In 1736 he was chosen dean of Corpus Christi College, but retained his rectory at Dummer. While at Oxford he kept the old Oxford Methodist spirit of work alive, visiting the prisoners and ministering unto them. Mr. Knichin never revived the friendship between him and the Wesleys, but followed them in their struggles after higher life until he himself experienced salvation by faith. At the time when the Established churches refused the Wesleys their pulpit, Mr. Knichin's was one of eight to which they had access. He was intensely religious, "lived it, looked it, breathed it." He died January 4, 1742. See Tyerman, The Oxford Methodists, page 363.