Sir Richard Knightley (1533–1615) of Fawsley Hall in Northamptonshire was an English Member of Parliament (MP) and leading patron of the Puritans during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Knightleys were one of the leading families of Northamptonshire.
He was the eldest son of Valentine Knightley of Fawsley and his wife Anne (née Ferrers). He succeeded his father in 1566 and was knighted in 1565.
He was MP for Northampton in the Parliaments of 1584 and 1586, and for Northamptonshire in those of 1589 and 1598. He also served as High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1568-1569 and 1581-1582. In 1587 he was commanded by Queen Elizabeth to be present at the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (which took place in Northamptonshire).
Sir Richard was a conspicuous member of the Puritan faction in Parliament, and in 1588 the secret printing press on which the Marprelate tracts were printed was concealed at his house; indeed, he may have met the expense of the printing. When this was discovered he was arrested, though subsequently released, and in February 1589 was fined £2,000 by Star Chamber, and dismissed from the lieutenancy of the county and the magistracy. In 1605, he was again fined, this time the sum of £10,000. By his first marriage to Mary Fermor, Sir Richard Knightley was the uncle of John Hales, in whose house in the Whitefriars in Coventry the secret press was also housed for a time.
He was MP for Orford, Suffolk in 1601.
He died in 1615. He had married twice:firstly Mary, the daughter of Richard Fermor of Easton Neston, with whom he had 3 sons and 3 daughters and secondly Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, with whom he had 7 sons and 2 daughters. His son and heir, Valentine, and a grandson, Richard, were also members of Parliament.