Guy John Fenton Knowles (1879–1959) was an engineer, an art collector and a benefactor of several museum collections. He was also a member of the expedition which made the first serious attempt to climb K2, the second-highest mountain in the World.
Guy Knowles was the son of Charles Julius Kino, a wealthy -born wool merchant and hotel proprietor who was a friend and patron of Alphonse Legros and also knew Auguste Rodin, Kino changed his name to Knowles in the 1880s.
Knowles was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took a Second Class in Pt. I of the Mechanical Sciences Tripos in 1901.
Knowles's father died in 1900, whilst Guy was at Cambridge, and left him a considerable inheritance.
Mountaineering
For a number of years, Knowles climbed in the
Swiss Alps, in 1898 he was climbing there in the company of
Oscar Eckenstein.
In 1902 Eckenstein led an expedition making the first serious attempt to climb K2. Knowles was a member of that party and reportedly financed most of the expedition's costs.
At one point on the expedition
Aleister Crowley, another expedition member, threatened Knowles with a revolver and had to be forcibly disarmed,
Knowles kept the revolver until the end of his life in 1959.
Although he never climbed again in the
Greater Ranges he did make further climbing trips to the Swiss Alps and was there with Eckenstein in 1904.
War service
During the First World War, Knowles served in the Royal Garrison Artillery, reaching the rank of Captain.
He was twice mentioned in despatches and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre
and the Greek Military Cross.
Art bequests
In his later years, Knowles lived in "
a house full of treasures", which included a
Edgar Degas bronze, two
Auguste Rodin, ten Whistlers, and a magnificent
Francesco Guardi sketch — apparently his father had bought the Guardi and a
Titian sketch for 12s 6d each in the 1880s.
In his will he left to the Fitzwilliam Museum what was described as "
a remarkable collection of paintings, drawings, bronzes and miscellaneous works of art",
and he is regarded as a major donor of the Fitzwilliam's Whistler collection.
