Thomas Knowles (30 May 1824 – 3 December 1883) was an English businessman and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1883. Knowles was born at Ince-in-Makerfield, the son of a colliery underlooker. According to his obituary, he began work at the age of nine, working up to fifteen hours a day for wages of half-a-crown a week, from which his father allowed him threepence a week pocket money. He spent two of the three pence on night school fees and rose through the ranks; collier, then underlooker, then (in 1847) colliery manager at Ince Colliery. In 1854, he became a partner in the colliery (then employing 200); when in 1873 the colliery (together with an associated ironworks at Warrington) became a limited liability company, Knowles became its chairman.