 After taking Honours in "Lit.Hum" and theology, he was appointed classical master at Abingdon School in 1874.In 1875 Knowling was ordained deacon and from 1878 to 1879 served as curate of Wellington in Somerset, where his father, Prebendary Knowling, was vicar.From 1878 Knowling spent six years as curate at St Martin-in-the-Fields and in 1884 began a connection with King's College London (which continued until his appointment in 1905 as canon of Durham Cathedral and professor of divinity at Durham University).