Knight emigrated from England to Canada in 1911 and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in December 1914 at Regina, Saskatchewan.
On 2 September 1918 at Villers-les-Cagnicourt, France, when a bombing section which he was leading was held up, Sergeant Knight went forward alone, bayoneting several machine-gunners and trench mortar crews, and forcing the rest to retire.