1. Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 - 1596) - English explorer, circumnavigator, and privateer
2. Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552 - 1618) - English explorer, courtier, and colonizer
3. Sir Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586) - English poet, courtier, and soldier
4. Sir Thomas Gresham (c. 1519 - 1579) - English merchant, financier, and founder of the Royal Exchange
5. Sir William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520 - 1598) - English statesman and political advisor to Queen Elizabeth I
6. Sir Henry Lee (c. 1535 - 1611) - English knight and jouster
7. Sir John Hawkins (c. 1532 - 1595) - English naval commander and slave trader
8. Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 - 1583) - English explorer and colonizer
9. Sir Thomas Smith (1513 - 1577) - English statesman and scholar
10. Sir Christopher Hatton (c. 1540 - 1591) - English courtier and Lord Chancellor
11. Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563 - 1612) - English statesman and son of William Cecil, Lord Burghley
12. Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1532 - 1590) - English statesman and spymaster
13. Sir Thomas Heneage (c. 1531 - 1595) - English courtier and Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
14. Sir Walter Mildmay (c. 1520 - 1608) - English statesman and Chancellor of the Exchequer
15. Sir John Norreys (c. 1547 - 1597) - English military commander and Governor of Ostend
This list is not exhaustive, as Queen Elizabeth I knighted many other men during her reign.