Career
Knowles was in business in Lancashire with interests in coal mining, cotton spinning and bleaching. He was chairman of Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company and a director of the London and North Western Railway. He was a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire and Cheshire.
In 1864 and 1865, he was Mayor of Wigan.
He held the seat until his death at the age of 59 in 1883. Knowles married firstly Mary Foster in 1846 and secondly Mary Longworth in 1866, daughter of William Longworth of Little Bolton, Lancashire.