The City of Cambridge Cambridge • Ontario • Canada

Hall of Fame Members

Reverend Robert E. Knowles

Inducted 1997

Rev. Robert E. Knowles was born in Maxwell, Grey County on 30 Mar 1868, the son of Rev. Robert Knowles of Ballymena Ireland and his wife Frances Tyne. He was a student at the Galt Collegiate Institute and later attended the University of Manitoba and Queen's University in Kingston while preparing for the ministry. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1891 and immediately took a position at Stewarton near Ottawa. He held that position until 1898 when he accepted a call to be pastor at Knox's Presbyterian Church in Galt.

He came at a time when there was some dissension in the church but by his energetic personality and his passionate eloquence on the pulpit, Rev. Knowles was able to bring a measure of harmony to the congregation seldom equalled up to that time. Rev. Knowles was known as an eloquent speaker whose sermons have been described as "spellbinding". One of his admirers has suggested that he was a better and more convincing speaker than many of the great orators of his day. It is little wonder, then, that Knox's Church was full to capacity for many of Rev. Knowles sermons.

Rev. Knowles was a strong supporter of the temperance forces in Galt and his sermon on temperance, delivered on the eve of the vote on Galt's Local Option by-law in January 1910, was credited by many for the victory of the anti-alcohol forces. The by-law prohibited the sale "by retail of spirituous, fermented or other manufactured liquors in the Town of Galt." The by-law remained in force until 1927. His influence in the community was such that it was proposed that he run for mayor of Galt in 1904. He declined, however, to let his name stand.

As a direct result of the shock that occurred from his involvement in a train wreck in 1911, Rev. Knowles required a number of rest cures but they had little effect and, in 1915 unable to carry out his duties, he resigned both from Knox's Church and the ministry. He continued with a literary career that began in 1905 with the publication of his first novel, St.Cuthbert's, a book generally conceded to be based on Knox's Church and its congregation. In all Rev. Knowles produced six novels in addition to St.Cuthbert's. They were The Attic Guest, The Handicap, The Undertow, The Dawn Shanty, The Web of Time and The Singer of the Kootenay.

He was, for many years, a contributor to the Toronto Daily Star and was noted for his interviews with world personalities including scientists, authors, sportsmen, stage stars, politicians, labour leaders, and members of royalty and the peerage. One of his noted assignments was to cover the Scopes "Monkey Trial" in Tennessee where Mr Scopes, defended by the famous Clarence Darrow, was on trial for teaching the theory of evolution.

Mr Knowles was a member of the Authors' Club of London, England and served as the chaplin of the Ontario Curling Association. He was also a member of First United Church from the time of the union of Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in 1925 until the time of his death on 15 Nov 1946 at the age of 79. He is buried in Mountview Cemetery.