Arthur Knapp

Sir Arthur Rowland Knapp  was a British civil servant who served as the Revenue Member of the Executive Council of the Governor of Madras from 1923 to 1926.

Arthur Knapp was born at Woolston in 1870 to Lt Col. Charles Barrett Knapp. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He married Florence Annie Moore on 9 August 1899 at Madras, India. His wife Florence was the daughter of Edward Moore, DD Principal of St Edmunds Hall Oxford.

His daughter Margaret Elfreda Knapp was married to the prominent Royal Navy officer and Director of Naval Intelligence Anthony Buzzard, and the theologian Anthony F. Buzzard is his grandson.

A Knapp joined the Indian civil service in 1891 and served as Assistant Collector and magistrate, Malabar district, Madras. In 1899, he was appointed Under-secretary in the Board of Revenue rising to become Secretary.His inexperience and lack of understanding about the nuances of local culture led to a lot of his administrative reforms being ineffective and unpopular.It is believed that even after he was long gone from Malabar, Sir Knapp’s name became synonymous with incompetence; eventually being assimilated into Malayalam as Knappan.