William Angus Knight (22 February 1836 – 4 March 1916) was a Scottish Free Church minister and author and Professor of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews University. He created the Lady Literate in Arts qualification.
He was educated locally and at the high school in Edinburgh, then studied at the University of Edinburgh for a general degree before training as a Free Church minister at New College, Edinburgh. He was ordained at St Enoch's Free Church in Dundee in 1866. In 1873, in quite a rare move, he and his congregation left the Free Church and joined the Church of Scotland.
In the field of philosophy his work, editorial and other, includes his collection of Philosophical Classics for English Readers (15 volumes, 1880–90), some of which he wrote. Although he wrote numerous publications, he is probably best known for his works on Wordsworth. His edition of Wordsworth's Works and Life (1881–89) is contained in 11 volumes. He presented to the trustees of Dove Cottage, Grasmere, the poet's former home, all the editions of Wordsworth's poems which he possessed. He also corresponded with Robert Browning about Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and on his retirement in 1905 he came to Florence's Swiss-owned so-called English Cemetery to plant the red rose at her tomb, which still flourishes, to honour women's learning, though the enamelled plaque celebrating that act has since been stolen.
Mitchell, Melissa (ed.) Professor William Knight, 1836–1916. Wordsworthian Discoverer, Enabler, and Publicist. A Centenary Celebration, (Wordsworth Trust, 2016)
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