Tom Knight
Tom Knight
Mr and Mrs Tom Knight In 1908, in a book entitled ‘Highways and Byways in Hampshire’, D.H.Moutray Read wrote, “Though Froyle is old, it lacks all recorded history.”

Just fourteen years later a new Headteacher arrived at the Village School and started collecting snippets of information about this tiny Hampshire village. That man was Tom Knight (photograph above) and he started something which, like Topsy, just grew and grew, until today Froyle is one of the best documented villages in the county

Tom Knight spent a great deal of time transcribing the Church Registers and talking to the local residents, often scribbling down notes on the back of cigarette packets. His ‘Historical Notes on Froyle’ has formed the basis of all research since that time.

Tom Knight was highly respected by all those he taught. Don Pritchard, who was at Froyle School from 1922 until 1931, is just one of those who remember him well, “Mr Knight was a good Headmaster, but very strict. He wouldn’t allow any talking at all. We used to sit in pairs in iron framed desks. His favourite expression was ‘Come out, you scamp!’ He would tell us wonderful stories about his time in South Africa. When he mentioned that, we knew we were all right for the afternoon. He once said, in later years, that we were a rough lot, but he wouldn’t have swapped us for the world!”

The photograph (right) of Mr Knight and his wife was taken in the garden of the schoolhouse, which stood adjacent to the school. He retired as Headmaster in 1946 and became the Clerk to Froyle Parish Council, a post that he held until 1957.
The results of Tom Knight’s “scribbling down notes on the back of cigarette packets” are documented below. Follow the links to the relevant sections.