Robert Blake, Baron Blake
FRSL | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 20 September 2003 Brundall, Norfolk | (aged 86)
Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
Occupation | Historian |
Notable work | Disraeli (1966) The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) |
Political party | Conservative |
Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake,
Early life
Robert Blake was born in Brundall, Norwich, the elder son of William Joseph Blake, a schoolmaster, and of Norah Lindley Blake, (née Daynes), the daughter of a leading Norwich solicitor.[2] The family firm was Daynes, Hill & Perks, subsequently acquired by Eversheds. He was said to be related to Admiral Robert Blake, of the Parliamentary navy.[2][1]
Blake was educated at a
Blake had planned to go to the
Academic career
In 1947 he became a student (fellow) and tutor in Politics at Christ Church, Oxford, replacing Lord Pakenham, who had joined Clement Attlee's government. His first work was an edition of the papers of Douglas Haig, which did much to restore Haig's reputation. It was followed by a biography of Bonar Law, written at the invitation of Lord Beaverbrook, Law's executor.
Blake's most famous work is his 1966 Disraeli, a biography of Benjamin Disraeli, which has been variously described as "the best single-volume biography of any British prime minister"[4] and "the best biography of anyone in any language".[2] He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy the following year.
Having abandoned a project for a biography of Lord Derby, in 1970 he published The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, a general history of the Conservative Party based on his 1968 Ford Lectures. The work was later extended to cover the period up to the premiership of Margaret Thatcher and, later, that of John Major.
In 1968 he was elected provost of
His History of Rhodesia (1978) is, according to Kenneth O. Morgan, "essentially a study of white rule, ending with sharp comments on the illegal breakaway regime of Ian Smith, where Blake's views were much influenced by his friendship with the liberal Garfield Todd and his daughter".[1] It makes interesting reading in conjunction with the less critical Sunrise on the Zambezi (1953).
In 1987 Lord Blake was nominated in the election for the Oxford Chancellorship, but lost to Roy Jenkins, although polling ahead of Edward Heath. Blake was hurt by the fact that the Cabinet had decided to endorse Heath, and became withdrawn from Oxford.
In 1990 he was one of the leading historians behind the setting up of the History Curriculum Association. The Association advocated a more knowledge-based history curriculum in schools. It expressed "profound disquiet" at the way history was being taught in the classroom and observed that the integrity of history was threatened.[6]
In 1992 Blake gave the centenary Romanes Lecture on "Gladstone, Disraeli and Queen Victoria".
Blake was for many years Senior Member (the University don responsible for ruling on internal disputes such as accusations of electoral malpractice) of the Oxford University Conservative Association.
Politics
Concomitant with his study of Conservative history, Blake was a political Conservative, and took the Conservative whip in the House of Lords. He defended the British government during the Suez Crisis and in later life was a Eurosceptic.[2] He was, however, a supporter of proportional representation, and served as the Chairman of the Electoral Reform Society.[2] He also rebelled over the War Crimes Bill.[2]
Blake opposed the Labour Party's policy to abolish the hereditary peers in the House of Lords. Writing the year before the 1997 general election, he commented:
"Abolition of the hereditary vote...is alleged to be phase one of a policy to substitute an elective Upper House for the existing chamber. Meanwhile we would have the biggest quango of all time: a House whose members would owe their seats solely to past or present prime ministerial patronage. Even as an interim measure, this would be thoroughly undesirable, and certainly no improvement on the present composition. The hereditary system, whatever its logical defects, does produce some people of independent opinions and also some who are much younger than the normal run of middle-aged legislators...My guess is that after achieving stage one, which would involve a great deal of parliamentary time and much controversy, a Labour Cabinet would rest on its oars and postpone for many years any plans for an elective chamber. There are immense difficulties involved – its powers, electoral system, and above all relations with the Commons, which would certainly resent the creation of a body with rival claims to democratic legitimacy."[7]
Blake was a Conservative member of Oxford City Council from 1957 to 1964.[8]
Other activities and honours
Blake served as a Trustee of the
He was a Director of Channel 4 Television.
Portraits of Lord Blake hang at The Queen's College, Oxford, and at Rhodes House, Oxford.[9]
Family
Blake married Patricia Mary Waters (1925–1995), the daughter of a Norfolk farmer, on 22 August 1953;
Works
- The Private Papers of Douglas Haig (1952; editor)
- The Unknown Prime Minister. The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law, 1858–1923 (1955)
- Disraeli (1966)
- Disraeli and Gladstone (1969; Stephen Lecture)
- The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970; later revised and updated as The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher, then again as The Conservative Party from Peel to Major)
- The Office of Prime Minister (1975)
- Conservatism in an Age of Revolution (1976)
- History of Rhodesia (1977)
- Disraeli's Grand Tour: Benjamin Disraeli and the Holy Land, 1830–31 (1982)
- The English World (1982)
- The Decline of Power, 1915–1964 (1985; part of The Paladin History of England series)
- An Incongruous Partnership: Lloyd George and Bonar Law ISBN 0907158552(1992; The Welsh Political Archive Lecture)
- Gladstone, Disraeli and Queen Victoria. Centenary Romanes Lecture (1993)
- Churchill: A Major New Assessment of His Life in Peace and War (1993; edited with Wm Roger Louis)
- Winston Churchill (1998)
- Jardine Matheson. Traders of the Far East (1999)
References
- ^ a b c d Morgan, Kenneth O. (25 September 2003). "Lord Blake". The Independent. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/92619. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Roberts, Andrew. "Lord Blake". London: Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013.
- ^ a b Matthew, Colin (23 September 2003). "Lord Blake of Braydeston". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ "No. 45372". The London Gazette. 18 May 1971. p. 5157.
- ^ The Daily Telegraph, 19 March 1990
- ^ The Times, 23 July 1996. Jim McCue, Edmund Burke and Our Present Discontents (The Claridge Press, 1997), p. 123.
- ^ Blake, Robert (1985). The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher (2nd ed.). Fontana Press. pp. foreword.
- ^ "Robert Norman William Blake (1916–2003), Baron Blake, Provost (1968–1987)", Art UK.
- ^ There is a photograph of the two of them at the wedding in Adam Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper: The Biography, 2010.
- ^ "The Trust and its Officials – Monte San Martino Trust". Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ "Victoria Blake". fantasticfiction.com.
External links
- "Lord Blake", Fellows Remembered, The Royal Society of Literature
- Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Robert Norman William Blake (1916-2003), Baron Blake of Braydeston
- Works by or about Robert Blake, Baron Blake at Internet Archive