Herbert Edward Douglas Blakiston
Herbert Edward Douglas Blakiston | |
---|---|
Thomas Banks Strong | |
Succeeded by | Lewis Richard Farnell |
President of Trinity College Oxford | |
In office 1907–1938 | |
Preceded by | Henry Francis Pelham |
Succeeded by | John Weaver |
Personal details | |
Born | Hastings | 5 September 1862
Died | 29 July 1942 Oxford | (aged 79)
Parents |
|
Alma mater | Trinity College, Oxford |
Herbert Edward Douglas Blakiston (5 September 1862 – 29 July 1942) was an
Family and early life
Herbert Blakiston was born in Hastings the son of artist Douglas Yeoman Blakiston and Sophia Matilda Dent. His father subsequently became a clergyman and the family moved to the vicarage of St Swithun's Church, East Grinstead.[1][3] Blakistone was a descendant of Sir Matthew Blakiston, the Lord Mayor of London from 1760 to 1761;[4] he was the great-grandson of Sir Matthew Blakiston, 2nd Baronet Blakiston.
Herbert Blakiston was the eldest of six children, he had two sisters and three brothers. All four brothers attended Tonbridge School, with Herbert being there from 1876 to 1881. [5][6][7] As he wore glasses, he acquired the nickname "Blinks" in school, which followed him for the remainder of his life.[8]
One of the brothers, Charles, was killed in a firearm accident at the age of 24 in October 1887. A house surgeon at the
In 1908 the vicarage at East Grinsted was destroyed in a fire, leaving Douglas Blakiston liable for £1000 as the building was under-insured.[3] Herbert Blakiston's sisters, Mabel and Emily, died in 1910 and 1912. His mother also died in 1912, and his father died in 1914.[3]
Academic career
Blakiston
Outside of Trinity College, Blakiston had also been appointed University Proctor in 1899. He was the university auditor from 1903 to 1917 and became a member of the Hebdomadal Council in 1915.[1]
During the
Blakiston was devoted to his college and its students. He had the lifelong habit of keeping clippings from The Times that mentioned any former student.[15] He was badly affected by the deaths of 155 Trinity men during the First World War, many known to him personally. In many cases, he personally visited the families of former-students who had been killed to offer condolences.[16] After the War, he devoted much effort to a new library that was to be their memorial.[17] He wrote 1200 letters asking for donations,[18] partially designed the building himself and paid five percent of its cost from his own pocket.[1] The building was eventually completed in 1928.
Blakiston was later described as unsociable, snobbish, parsimonious and obsessed with finance. He had few close friends and made enemies easily. His racism was notable even by the standards of the time and he became notorious for it.[1][8] He was strongly against Oxford degrees being awarded to women,[1] which began while he served as university Vice-Chancellor and in spite of all he could to do oppose it.[4] The central character in Joanna Cannan's 1931 satirical novel High Table, Theodore Fletcher, is a thinly-disguised, cruel caricature of him.[8]
During his presidency, Blakiston was largely responsible for college admissions and developed a particular notoriety for refusing applications to Trinity from non-white candidates. Notably, he stubbornly resisted pressure from the
Although he was under no compulsion to retire from the College Presidency, he did so on 1 September 1938, having held the post for 31 years.
Later life
After living at Trinity College for 57 years,[4] Blakiston moved to Boars Hill, near Oxford.[21] On 28 July 1942, he was struck by a motorist while walking in Boars Hill; he died the next day in the Radcliffe Infirmary without regaining consciousness.[22] His funeral took place in the Trinity College chapel and his ashes were interred in the antechapel.[23] He left £100,055 in his will. His bequests were to Oxford University and Trinity College for the purchase of works of art.[1]
Trinity College owns two portraits of him. One painted in 1932 by the chemist
Works
Blakiston wrote articles for the
See also
References
Citations
- ^
- ^ "Blakiston, Herbert Edward Douglas". The Concise Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. I: A–F. Oxford University Press. 1995. p. 216.
- ^ OCLC 881656610. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "The Rev. Dr. H.E.D. Blakiston". The Times. No. 49301. London. 30 July 1942. p. 7.
- ^ Hughes (1886), p.178
- ^ Hughes (1886), p.197
- ^ Hughes (1886), p.206
- ^ a b c Hopkins (2005), p.338
- ^ "The Fatal Shooting Accident at Shrewsbury". Birmingham Daily Post. No. 9149. Birmingham. 24 October 1887. p. 4.
- ^ "Coroners' Inquests". The Morning Post. No. 36603. London. 9 October 1889. p. 3.
- ^ "The Revolt in Rhodesia". The Pall Mall Gazette. No. 9749. London. 24 June 1896.
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.336
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.357
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.350
- ^ a b Hopkins (2005), p.340
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.351
- ^ "Trinity College WW1 UKNIWM Ref: 31985". United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.358
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.344
- ^ Clare Hopkins and Bryan Ward-Perkins, "The Trinity/Balliol Feud", Trinity College Oxford Report (1989–90), pp. 54–60.
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.381
- ^ Hopkins (2005), p.382
- ^ Hopkins (2005), pp.381-382
- ^ "Herbert E. D. Blakiston (1862–1942), President of Trinity College". artuk.org. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ "Herbert E. D. Blakiston (1862–1942), President of Trinity College". artuk.org. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- WikiSource.
- OCLC 4713072.
- OCLC 43333202.
- OCLC 593757884.
- OCLC 24657375.
Bibliography
- OCLC 459955.
- Hopkins, Claire (2005). Trinity: 450 years of an Oxford college community. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-951896-3.
- Hughes, Walter Oldham, ed. (1886). The register of Tonbridge School, from 1820 to 1886. I.I. Beecroft, Printer. p. 178. OCLC 671510121.
External links
- Portrait of Herbert Blakiston at the National Portrait Gallery (London).
- The speeches of M. Tullius Cicero against Catiline and Antony and for Murena and Milo (1894), translated by Herbert ED Blakiston MA, at the Internet Archive
- Trinity college (1898), by Herbert ED Blakiston MA, at the Internet Archive