A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Knighton, Charles
KNIGHTON. (Retired Commander, 1843. f-p., 21; h-p., 34.)
Charles Knighton is a near relative of Lieut. C. Knighton, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 Nov. 1792, as A.B., on board the Fury bomb, Capt. Hon. Wm. Paget, attached to the force in the Mediterranean. Removing as Midshipman, in March, 1794, to the Centurion 50, Capt. Sam. Osborne, he witnessed, we believe, the capture, 5 May following, of the French 74-gun ship Duguay Trouin off the Isle of France. He also, on 22 of the next Oct., partook of a stiff action fought in the same neighbourhood between the Centurion and Diomède 44 on the one side, and, on the other, a French squadron consisting of the 40-gun frigate Cybèle, 36-gun frigate Prudente, 20-gun corvette Jean Bart, and 14-gun brig-corvette Courier terminating in the flight of the enemy, with a loss to the Centurion of 3 men killed and 24 wounded. In 1797, after he had further contributed to the reduction of Trincomalee and of the islands of Amboyna and Banda, Mr. Knighton was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Victorious 74, Capt. Wm. Clark. He was confirmed, while officiating in a similar capacity on board the Carysfort frigate, 27 March, 1799; and was afterwards appointed – 11 Aug. 1800, and 14 July, 1803, to the Cumberlard and Leviathan 74’s, Capts. Thos. Graves and Henry Wm. Bayntun, on the Channel, West India, and Mediterranean stations – in Sept. 1805, to the Sea Fencible service in Ireland, where he continued until the corps was disbanded in May, 1810 – 24 Feb. 1813, to the command of a Signal station, which he retained until June, 1814 – and 26 March, 1823, for three years, to the Ordinary at Plymouth. He became a Retired Commander on the Senior List 7 April, 1843.