James Knowles (lexicographer)

James Knowles (1759 – 8 February 1840) was an Irish schoolteacher and, late in life, the author of A Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language.

He and his son had strong differences of opinion about teaching methods, and in 1816 he was dismissed by the directors, on the ground of inability to maintain discipline.

In 1817 he published a pamphlet "An Appeal to the Dignified Visitors, and the Noblemen and Gentlemen, Proprietors", claiming that he had suffered injustice.

This was published in London in 1835, entitled A Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language, and dedicated to William IV.

Knowles died at his son's house, Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London, on 6 February 1840, and was buried at Highgate Cemetery.