Henry Arthur Blake
Sir Henry Arthur Blake Governor of British Ceylon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In office 3 December 1903 – 11 July 1907 | |||||||
| Monarch | Edward VII | ||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Everard im Thurn (Ag) | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Hugh Clifford (Ag) | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Born | 8 January 1840 Limerick, Ireland | ||||||
| Died | 13 February 1918 (aged 78) Myrtle Grove, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland | ||||||
| Resting place | Myrtle Grove, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland | ||||||
| Spouses | |||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||
| Profession | Constable, magistrate, colonial administrator | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 卜力 | ||||||
| |||||||
Sir Henry Arthur Blake
Early life, family and career
Blake was born in
Blake started out as a clerk in the Bank of Ireland but lasted only 18 months before resigning and commencing a cadetship in the Irish Constabulary in 1857. He became a special inspector two years later. In 1876, he was appointed Resident Magistrate to Tuam, an especially disturbed district in the west of Ireland, where he was noted as judicious and active. In 1882, he was promoted to Special Resident Magistrate.[3]
Early colonial services
In 1884, Blake was made
Governor of Hong Kong
On 25 November 1898, Blake was appointed Governor of Hong Kong, a position he held until November 1903.[3] Five months before he arrived in Hong Kong, the British government negotiated an agreement with the Qing government which leased the New Territories to British Hong Kong for 99 years. During his tenure, Blake sent in colonial administrators to the New Territories to assert control over the local punti clans. The clans resisted the British takeover of the New Territories, resulting in the outbreak of the Six-Day War; a largely Indian force under the command of British Army officer William Gascoigne managed to defeat the punti clans, with Blake adopting an amiable co-operation policy to prevent further trouble and allowed them to retain traditional laws and customs in regards to land inheritance, land usage and marriage.[6]
Blake left Hong Kong immediately after he attended the laying of the foundation stone of the Supreme Court building (Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1985 to 2011) on 12 November 1903.[7]
Post-Hong Kong
Blake was appointed
The Blakes retired to Myrtle Grove in Youghal, County Cork, where they both died and were buried.[9]
Personal life
Blake married twice: Jeannie Irwin in 1862 (she died in 1866), and Edith Bernal Osborne in Ireland, on 7 February 1874 (she was the daughter of MP Ralph Bernal Osborne). He had two sons, and one daughter Olive, who married John Bernard Arbuthnot. During his period as Governor of The Bahamas, a watercolour of his three children, Children Under a Palm, was painted by Winslow Homer. The painting was subsequently featured on the BBC TV programme, Fake or Fortune?[10]
Honours and arms
- Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), 1887
- Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), 1888
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), 1897
- Knight of Justice of Order of St. John of Jerusalem
- Fellow of Royal Geographical Society (FRGS)
- JP
- DL
- Fellow of Royal Colonial Institute (FRCI)
- Fellow of FIoD)
- Honorary Colonel of Ceylon Mounted Rifles
- District Grand Master Ceylon Freemasons
- Member, Council Royal Dublin Society
- Honorary Member, Royal Zoological Society, London
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Legacy
The community of
The
The John Crow Mountains in Jamaica were renamed the Blake Mountains in 1890 but the name did not stick.[12]
Publications
- McGrath, Terence, pseud. [i.e. Sir Henry Arthur Blake.] 1880, Pictures from Ireland. Kegan Paul & Co.: London, 1880. Available from archive.org
- . The Empire and the century. London: John Murray. 1905. pp. 707–15.
See also
- History of Hong Kong
- The Tribes of Galway– see Blake
References
- ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 120.
- ^ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, editor, Burke's Irish Family Records (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976), Blake, page 120.
- ^ ISBN 9789888083664.
- Wikidata Q107340736.
- ISBN 9780806304434. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ISBN 9789622098992.
- ^ "The Old Supreme Court Building – Brief History". Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ Pearl, Cyril (1967). Morrison of Peking. Sydney,Australia: Angus & Robertson.
- ^ Independent article by Patrick Cockburn
- ^ "Homer". Fake or Fortune?. Episode 2. 26 June 2011. BBC. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
- ^ "Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. H". National Library of Ireland. 11 February 1880. p. 358. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ISBN 978-976-640-217-4.
Sources
- Dictionary of Irish Biography, pp. 583–84, Cambridge, 2010.
- Biography at Government House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador
External links
- Works by Henry Arthur Blake at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Henry Arthur Blake at Internet Archive
- https://web.archive.org/web/20121103011435/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/wilde.htm
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