Joseph Knight (Royal Navy officer)

Rear-Admiral Sir Joseph Knight (c.1708 – 18 July 1775) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station from 1752 to 1754.

Naval career
Knight joined the Royal Navy in 1727. Promoted to captain on 31 July 1746, he was given command of the fourth-rate HMS Augusta (1736) and then, later that year, the fourth-rate HMS Ruby (1745), in which he took part in the raid on Lorient in September 1746 and then sailed out to the far east and served as Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station from 1752 to 1754. He went on to command, successively, the fifth-rate HMS Rainbow (1747), the third-rate HMS Fougueux (1747) (in which he took part in the capture of Gorée in 1758), the fourth-rate HMS Princess Mary (1742), the third-rate HMS Belleisle (1761) (in which he took part in the siege of Havana in 1762), the third-rate HMS Ramillies (1763) and the second-rate HMS Ocean (1761).

His daughter was the author, Ellis Cornelia Knight.