22213977 Mr Frederick Knight
04 February 2025
22213977 Mr Frederick Knight of the Matlock and Chesterfield Branch It is with great sadness we report the death of Mr Frederick Knight our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time, we thank him for his service in our great Regiment and may he rest in peace
Frederick Knight
Grenadier Guards Service No 22213977
Born 08/12/1933 Died 25/01/2025
Fred was born in Staffordshire the 4th of 5 children. His family moved to Ashbourne in Derbyshire When he left school he joined Sheraton Griffiths a local building firm. However, both his father and uncle were former members of the Grenadier Guards and at the age of 17 ½ he joined the Queens Company and stayed for 3 years.
He was very proud to have been part of Queen Mary’s funeral and Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation. He spent most of his service either at Windsor Castle or St James’ Palace and was proud and amused when he appeared in a national newspaper handing over the guard to Canada. He treasured the medal he attained when he was posted to Germany and completed the Nijmegen March.
On leaving the Guards his father and brother set up a building firm T. W. Knight and Son and Fred joined them.
In 1958 Fred met and married Ann and they have three children, Andrew, Vicky and Richard. In 1972 the family embarked on a new life in Australia but the eldest son, Andrew, did not settle and they returned in 1975 when Fred set up his own building firm. In between working Fred and Ann built their own bungalow in Parwich, near Ashbourne where they lived together until Fred’s illness hospitalised him in the last few weeks of his life. Fred was eventually transferred to a care home for end of life care and died 2 weeks after being admitted
Fred and Ann were active members of the Matlock Branch for many years. Fred was Chairman for 2 years and Vice Chairman for several years. They attended charity fund raising events, monthly meetings and supported all Branch activities until ill –health in the last 12 months curtailed their involvement.
Fred’s funeral is to take place at 1130hrs on Friday 21 February 2025 at St Peters Church, Parwich Ashbourne Derbyshire DE6 1QD
.