Knill, Richard

Knill, Richard an English missionary of the Independents, was born of humble parentage, at Braunton, April 14, 1787. In 1816 he proceeded as a missionary to India under the London Society, where he continued until 1819, and then returned to England.

Shortly after his arrival he went to St. Petersburg, Russia, to take charge of an English congregation in that city, over which he presided many years. Subsequently he was appointed travelling agent for the London Missionary Society, and for eight consecutive years labored to awaken the Christian mind to the duty of sending the Gospel to the heathen, a work for which he was peculiarly qualified. In 1842 he became minister of a congregation in Wotton-under-Edge, and finally received a unanimous invitation to the pastorate of Queen-Street Chapel, Chester, where he finished his eminently useful career in 1857. His style of preaching was simple, graphic, chaste, and full of unction, with a fund of illustration that rendered it always effective. See Life of Rev. Richard Knill, by the late Rev. Angell James and Charles M. Birrell (Lond. 2d ed. 1859, 12mo; N. Y. 1860, 16mo).