Roger Knowles was born in 1937 in Warrington and raised during World War II and the early post war years. He left school at 16 years of age and commenced work as a trainee Quantity Surveyor. He secured his qualification as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor through study using a distance learning course. In his late twenties he qualified as a Barrister, again by means of distance learning course. He founded James R Knowles in 1973, a company of Construction Disputes Resolution Consultants offering a one-stop shop which was the first in its field. This became the only alternative method of formally resolving disputes in the construction industry, without the need to employ a firm of Solicitors. The company became a worldwide phenomenon.
