Jill Knight
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The Right Honourable The Baroness Knight of Collingtree DBE |
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Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston |
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In office 31 March 1966 – 30 April 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Edith Pitt |
| Succeeded by | Gisela Stuart |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Joan Christabel Jill Christie 9 July 1923 Bristol |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | James Montague Knight (m. 1947) |
| Children | Two sons |
Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, DBE (née Christie; born 9 July 1923) is a former British Conservative Member of Parliament. She was created a Life Peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire in 1997 after standing down at that year's general election, and retired from the House of Lords on 24 March 2016. She was appointed MBE in 1964, and elevated to DBE in 1985.
She was born in Bristol, but her parents divorced when she was a girl. Her mother was a teacher and a graduate of Bristol University. Christie attended Fairfield Secondary and Higher Grade School in Bristol and the King Edward Grammar School for Girls, Birmingham. In 1941, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). Her unit served in Amiens, moving later to Hamburg, following the British advance, performing ground control of aircraft. She also appeared on British Forces Network radio. Upon her return to the UK she joined the Young Conservatives in London. On 14 June 1947 she married James Montague "Monty" Knight (an optician, who had served throughout the war as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy), and moved to Northampton. Taking her husband's surname, she became known as Jill Knight.
She was elected as a councillor on Northampton Borough Council, and served from 1956–66, and became a whip. She unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Northampton in 1959 and 1964 for the Conservative Party. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston in the 1966 general election, and held that seat in successive elections until she stood down at the 1997 election. The Conservative MP for Edgbaston Edith Pitt had died on 27 January 1966 and it was the first time that a female Member of Parliament had been succeeded by another woman.
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