Vicesimus Knox, D.D., was born on 8^th December 1752 at Newington Green in North London the only child of Reverend Vicesimus Knox, LL.B., (1729-1780) and Ann Wall. He was educated privately at home until the age of 14 when Vicesimus was sent to Merchant Taylors' School in London where his father was a master and at St. John's College, Oxford (1771-1775). He subsequently became a fellow of St John's until 1778 when he took the post of headmastership of Tonbridge School replacing his father who had held the post for the previous six years.

Vicesimus' period as headmaster for 34 years is noted for the growing reputation of the school and its increasing popularity with numbers of pupils rising four-fold to 80 during his term in office. He held strong views on education and christian values and published extensively throughout his career including Essays Moral and Literary (1778), Liberal Education (1781) and Elegant Extracts (1783 & 1789). He wrote extensively on morals and literature, and as a minister he preached on behalf of philanthropic causes and against war. He was an outspoken supporter of grammar schools throughout his life and published in his final year Remarks on the Tendency of Certain Clauses in a Bill now pending in Parpiament to Degrade Grammar Schools

In 1778 Vicesimus had married Mary Miller and, together, they had four children - Vicesimus (1779-1855), Sarah (1781- ), Thomas (1783-1843) and Holles Josiah (1787- ). The son Vicesimus became a barrister and Thomas, who was educated at Tonbridge School under his father and then at Brasenose College, Oxford, suceeded his father in 1812 to the headmastership of Tonbridge School which he held until 1843. Indeed, the three generations of Knox, were to hold the headmastership of Tonbridge school continuously for seventy-one years from 1772 until 1843.

In 1812, Vicesimus retired from his position at Tonbridge to live in London. On a visit to his son at Tonbridge in 1821, he was seized with an infammation of his intestines from which he died on the 6^th September at the age of 69. His funeral took place at Tonbridge and he was buried in the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul where a monument commemorates his dedication "to the moral and intellectual improvement of man"