All three sons served in the British Army in the First World War. Basil Knott was a captain in the Northumberland Fusiliers, and was killed at Ypres on 7 September 1915. James Knott was a major in the West Yorkshire Regiment, was awarded the DSO, and was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. The brothers are buried side by side in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.