KNOLLYS, Hansard, clergyman, born in Chalk-well, Lincolnshire, England, about 1598; died in London, England, 19 September, 1691. He was educated at Cambridge, and afterward was master of the free schools in Gainsborough. In June, 1629, he was made deacon in the Church of England, and, after being ordained priest, received a living in Humber-stone. Three years later he began to doubt certain tenets of the church, although he continued to preach for several years longer, but without surplice or prayer book. He then resigned, and in 1636 was imprisoned in Boston, but escaped and came to this country, reaching Massachusetts early in 1638. There he was denounced as an Antinomian, and called " Mr. Absurd Knowless" by Cotton Mather. He appears to have settled in Piscataway, now Dover, New Hampshire, where he founded a church in September, 1638, which was probably the first in New Hampshire. That he was a Baptist at this time there is little reason to doubt. An unfortunate controversy between two sections of his congregation led to his removal to Long Island, and he settled finally near New Brunswick, New Jersey In 1641 he returned to England and preached in various places, getting himself into frequent trouble. He was formally ordained pastor, in 1645, of the Baptist church which he had gathered in London, and retained this charge until his death. Mr. Knollys is regarded as the first Baptist clergyman that preached in the colonies, and he possessed great influence among that denomination, both in this country and England. He published several books, among which were "Flaming Fire in Zion" (1646); " Rudiments of Hebrew Grammar" (1648); and his " Autobiography" (1072), brought down to his death by William Kiffen (1692). In 1845 the Hansard Knollys society was organized in England for the republication of early Baptist works.