Sir James Knowles

Sir James Thomas Knowles (1831–1908) was an English architect and editor. Trained in his father's practice, he designed the Grosvenor Hotel at Victoria Station and laid out Leicester Square for Baron Grant. In 1862 he published The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, a retelling of Malory for young readers that went through many editions and was dedicated to Tennyson, who became a close friend. In 1869 he founded the Metaphysical Society, which brought Huxley, Gladstone, Manning and Tennyson into debate, and in 1877 the Nineteenth Century, the most influential review of late Victorian England, which he edited until his death. He was knighted in 1903.