Wilfred Lawrence Knox OGS FSA FBA (21 May 1886 – 9 February 1950) was an English Anglican priest and theologian, one of four brothers who distinguished themselves.

After leaving Oxford with a first-class honours degree in classics, Knox soon began working with the poor of London's East End, and then studied for the priesthood.

He approached his New Testament studies as a Hellenist, and wrote several books on Paul the Apostle and other aspects of ecclesiastical history from that angle.

He was the third son and fourth of the six children of Edmund Knox, the rector of Kibworth, and his first wife, Ellen Penelope, née French.

Edmund became editor of Punch, Dillwyn, after a scholastic career, was a key figure among Second World War code-breakers at Bletchley Park, and Ronald became a prominent Roman Catholic priest, writer, and translator of the Bible.

At Rugby he came under the influence of an older pupil, William Temple, later Archbishop of Canterbury, whose creed combined Christianity and socialism.

[a] As well as Temple's views, Knox was impressed by the writings of John Ruskin and F. D. Maurice, all tending in the direction of socialism and the alleviation or abolition of poverty.

[b] Bishop Knox was distressed by his son's doctrinal views, but in full support of his work among the poor in the East End of London.

During the Oxford vacations, and later while working as a civil servant, Knox lived at the Trinity Mission in Stratford, of which he later became warden for a short period.

[1] His mentors and role models were Temple and George Lansbury, the latter a future leader of the Labour Party, who was a prominent figure in the East End.

He then spent two years in parish work at St Saviour's, Hoxton, in east London as assistant priest.