Thomas Macknight


Thomas Macknight was an Anglo-Irish newspaper editor, biographer and publisher. He was the originator of the Two Nations Theory in 1896, which argues that the Ulster Protestants are a distinct Irish nation.

Life

Born in Gainford in County Durham, the son of Thomas Macknight, and his wife, Elizabeth, Macknight was privately educated at Dr Bowman's school in Gainford. He enrolled in the Medical Faculty at King's College, London in 1849 where he met and was influenced by Frederick Denison Maurice. Macknight left the college in 1851 without taking his degree, having discovered an interest in journalism, and began his career by writing leaders for a number of London daily papers. He married the actress Sarah Thorne sometime between 1856 and 1859. They had two children during their three years together, Edmund and Elizabeth, but due to incompatibility the couple separated soon after the birth of their daughter. In January 1866 Macknight succeeded Frank Harrison Hill as editor of The Northern Whig in Belfast, where he remained for thirty-three years. Macknight was a Liberal and supported Gladstone's Irish land legislation; he admired Gladstone ; The History of the Life and Times of Edmund Burke in three volumes, Chapman and Hall, London ; Life of Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, and Ulster As It Is or Thirty Years Experience as an Irish Editor.
Following his death on 19 November 1899 Macknight was buried in Belfast City Cemetery.

Life