Ellis Cornelia Knight (1757–1837)

Ellis Cornelia Knight was the daughter of Sir Joseph Knight, an admiral in the British Navy who was knighted by King George III. She attended London College, where she studied Latin and other European languages. Following the death of her father, Cornelia and her mother Lady Knight went to live in Europe in order to economize. Her portrait was painted by Angelika Kauffmann in 1793. In 1798, in Naples, Cornelia socialized with the British Ambassador, Sir William Hamilton, and his wife Emma, Lady Hamilton, and Lord Nelson, who evacuated them to Palermo along with the royal family during the war with France. She wrote a poem to celebrate Lord Nelson, The Battle of the Nile, printed at Naples in 1799. After her mother died, Cornelia was invited to accompany the Hamiltons and Lord Nelson on their return to England; during this time, she was a witness to the love affair of Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson. In 2010, her sketchbook, containing 36 watercolors painted on board Lord Nelson's flagship, came to light and was sold at auction. In England in 1805, thanks to a recommendation from Fanny Burney, Cornelia was appointed a lady companion to Queen Charlotte, and later to a similar position in the household of the teenaged Princess Charlotte of Wales, holding this position until 1814. She enjoyed a modest reputation as a writer and artist. She then taught English, literature, science, and fine arts to Massimo Taparelli, marquis d'Azeglio, an Italian writer, painter, and politician whom she met in 1818 at Castel Gandolfo. Among her works were a sequel to Samuel Johnson's book Rasselas called Dinarbas (1790); Description of Latium: or, La Campagna di Roma (1805); Translations from the German in Prose and Verse (1812); Marcus Flaminius, a novel; and an autobiography that was published posthumously.