Anthony Knights
| Anthony Knights | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 4, 1964 Rineteln, West Germany |
| 🏳️ Nationality | British |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 🌐 Website | theknightsfoundation |
Anthony Christian Knights (born October 4, 1964) is a British business magnate, author, and philanthropist. He is the founder of the Knights Group Empire. And the general ambassador to UK Homes 4 Heroes.
Early life and family
Knights was born into a British military family on October 4, 1964, in Rinteln, West Germany. His father, Antony, was a serving soldier born in the East End.
When Knights was young, his family traveled the world with the Army before his father settled in Newcastle upon Tyne, living in a council house. He started working as a Newcastle motorbike apprentice before joining the Army in 1983.
Career
Military career
Knights joined the British Army in 1983, initially wanting to join the parachute regiment. However, he was enlisted into the Royal Ordnance Corp when he went for his Army selection in Sutton Coalfield. On turning 18 in October 1983, Knights deployed to the Falklands Island, where we worked with the Commando Forces. This inspired him to complete the Commando course and be posted to Plymouth in 1985. While serving in the 3 Commando Brigade, Knights completed his Physical Training Instructors Course before being posted to Germany on promotion.
In 1989, Knights completed his military training instructors course and was posted to Deepcut to train the recruit soldiers. Due to his outstanding service in the recruit depot, Knights was selected to attend the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Instructors Cadre. On being selected as an instructor, Knights had a two-year post, gaining two exemplary reports and being one of the instructors to teach on the instructor cadre in 1995 before being posted to Northern Ireland and promoted to Sergeant Major at the young age of 28.
During his appointment as Sergeant Major in Ireland, Knights dealt with the IRA attack on his regiment in Lisburn barracks. In 2000, he was posted as the regimental quartermaster sergeant to 16 Air Assault Brigade in Colchester. There, he deployed to Macedonia for weapons collection and his first deployment to Afghanistan before completing his military parachuting course.
While teaching senior officer courses in Deepcut in 2006, Knights was offered an extension to his military service. By then, while still serving in the Army, Knights had already set up his first Limited Company in the education sector.
Knights Group businesses
After retiring from the army, Knights started Knights Training Academy Limited, and later, he founded Knights Security Limited. The company, in 2012, supplied over 1800 security staff to the London Olympics Games. Knights invested the profits of the London Games into his business conglomerate and named the Knights Group. The Knights Groups consists of Knights Training Academy, delivering government-funded qualifications nationwide; Knights Security, which supplies the workforce to many of the country's venues and stadiums, including Wembley, Twickenham, Ascot Race Course, Wimbledon Tennis, Chelsea FC; Knights Property Services, and Knights Services Limited a consultancy company, Memco Framing is a bespoke framing and memorabilia specialist. The company provides memorabilia to many auctions while framing for clients such as Chelsea FC, West Ham FC, Wimbledon FC, and many military units and artists.
Aldershot Football Club
In 2010, Knights invested in Aldershot Town Football Club and took on the club director position. Staying with the club to see operational and financial stability, Knights resigned as a Director in 2016 while still being a major shareholder. His father also played for the club in the past. Currently, one of his grandchildren plays for the club.
Philanthropy
Knights founded the Anthony Knights Foundation initially to help homeless veterans. Subsequently, in 2016, the foundation changed its focus to support children with terminal illnesses, disabilities, and those living in extreme poverty. Over the years, the foundation has brought on over 70 patrons who financially support the foundation. In 2023, the foundation paid off its fully adaptable holiday lodge in New Forrest. As of 2023, over 150 families with terminal illnesses and a disability have stayed at the foundation lodge free of charge.
Knights was instrumental in raising much needed funds to support over 300 Gurkha veterans who have never qualified for a military pension. Knights traveled to Nepal to meet some of the 300 old soldiers and give them a one-off payment to assist with their living after the earthquake.
Publication
In 2013, Knights published his book Bullets to Boardroom, which covers his military career and later achievements as a civilian. The book covers all of the Knights’ obstacles and explains the thought process and decision-making skills.
Personal life
Knights married Corina Knights on October 16, 2010. The couple has five children: Kevin, Jamie, Richard, Yvonne, and Natasha.
Accolades
In 2018, Knights won the Ex Military Entrepreneur of the Year award and the Life Time Achievement award in 2020 by Ex-Forces in Business.
References
This article "Anthony Knights" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Anthony Knights. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
