Knights, Baron – King’s boy became a Lord

Philip Douglas Knights (1920 -2014)

PHILIP Douglas Knights (Baron Knights) CBE QPM is a retired British police officer.

He was educated at King’s School,  Grantham, then joined Lincolnshire Police as a cadet in 1938, becoming a constable in 1940.

During the war, he served in the RAF from 1943-5.

He returned to Lincolnshire, reaching the rank of Chief Superintendent in 1957. He moved to Birmingham City Police in 1959 as Assistant Chief Constable.

He became Deputy Chief Constable in 1970. In 1972 he moved to Sheffield and Rotherham Constabulary as Chief Constable. In 1974, it became South Yorkshire Police.

From 1975-85 he was Chief Constable of West Midlands Police. In 1983 he was criticised for not disciplining West Midlands Special Branch officers who investigated the CND activist Madeline Haigh.

He was created a life peer in 1987, as Baron Knights of Edgbaston in the County of West Midlands. He sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords. He was knighted in 1980, having gained the CBE four years earlier.

He sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords until his death in 2014.