Henry Arthur Blake

Sir Henry Arthur Blake GCMGDLJPFRGS
46thGovernor of The Bahamas
In office 4 January 1884 – 1887
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	SirCharles Cameron Lees
Succeeded by	SirAmbrose Shea
55thGovernor of Newfoundland
In office 1887 – December 1888
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Sir G W Des Voeux
Succeeded by	Sir John T N O'Brien
65thGovernor of Jamaica
In office 23 December 1888 – 1898
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	William Clive Justice (Ag)
Succeeded by	Henry Jardine Hallowes (Ag)
12thGovernor of Hong Kong
In office 25 November 1898 – 21 November 1903
Monarchs	Victoria Edward VII
Lieutenant Governor	Sir Wilsone Black Sir William Gascoigne
Colonial Secretary	Sir Stewart Lockhart Sir Francis Henry May
Preceded by	Sir William Robinson
Succeeded by	Sir Matthew Nathan
19thGovernor 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	(1840-01-08)8 January 1840 Limerick,Ireland
Died	13 February 1918(1918-02-13)(aged 78) Myrtle Grove,Youghal,County Cork, Ireland
Resting place	Myrtle Grove, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland
Spouses	Jeannie Irwin ​ ​ (m.1862; died 1866)​ Edith Bernal Osborne, Lady Blake ​ ​ (m.1874)​
Children	3
Profession	Constable, magistrate, colonial administrator
Chinese name
Chinese	Bặc lực
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Jyutping buk1 lik6

Sir Henry Arthur BlakeGCMGDLJPFRGS(Chinese:Bặc lực;Sidney Lau:Buk¹Lik⁶;8January 1840 – 23February 1918) was aBritishcolonial administrator andGovernor of Hong Kongfrom 1898 to 1903.

Early life, family and career

Blake was born inLimerick,Ireland. He was the son of Peter Blake ofCorbally Castle(c. 1805 – bur.St. Ann's,Dublin,19 November 1850), aGalway-born countyInspectorof theIrish Constabulary,and wife (m.Mobarnan,County Tipperary) Jane Lane (Lanespark,County Tipperary, 5 March 1819 –?), daughter of John Lane ofLanespark,County Tipperary, and paternal grandson of Peter Blake of Corbally Castle,County Galway(? – 1842, bur.Peter’s Well,County Galway) and wife (m. 14 May 1800) Mary Browne, daughter of The Hon. John Browne and wife Mary Cocks and paternal granddaughter ofJohn Browne, 1st Earl of Altamont,and wife Anne Gore. He was included among the descendants the Blakes of Corbally Castle,Kilmoylan,County Galway,the descendants of Peter Blake (? – 1712), who was granted the lands of Corbally, Kilmoylan, County Galway, on 20 December 1697, and wife Magdeline Martin,the Blakes.Peter Blake was a son ofSir Richard Blakeand wife Gyles Kirwan.

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 toTuam,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.

Early colonial services

In 1884, Blake was madeGovernor of Bahamas,a position he held until 1887. He was appointed toQueenslandin 1886 but resigned without entering the administration, following an imbroglio between Secretary of State for the Colonies,Lord Knutsford,and the premier of Queensland, SirThomas M'Ilwraith,on the appointment.In 1887, he moved toNewfoundland,where he was governor until the end of 1888, being knighted on 7 November that year.In 1889 he became the Captain-General andGovernor of Jamaica.His term was extended in 1894 and 1896, at the request of Legislature and public bodies of the island, until 1897.

Governor of Hong Kong

On 25 November 1898, Blake was appointedGovernor of Hong Kong,a position he held until November 1903.Five months before he arrived in Hong Kong, theBritish governmentnegotiated an agreement with theQing governmentwhich leased theNew Territoriesto British Hong Kong for 99 years. During his tenure, Blake sent in colonial administrators to the New Territories to assert control over the localpunticlans. The clans resisted the British takeover of the New Territories, resulting in the outbreak of theSix-Day War;a largelyIndianforce under the command ofBritish ArmyofficerWilliam Gascoignemanaged to defeat thepunticlans, 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.

Blake left Hong Kong immediately after he attended the laying of the foundation stone of the Supreme Court building (Legislative Council of Hong Kongfrom 1985 to 2011) on 12 November 1903.

Post-Hong Kong

Blake was appointedGovernor of Ceylonat the end of his tenure in Hong Kong in 1903, and he served in that capacity until 1907. This was his last post in the Colonial Service. A freshly retired Blake impressedGeorge Morrisonwith his bitterness at not landing a Privy Council sinecure in gratitude for his 41 years' public service.

The Blakes retired toMyrtle Grovein Youghal,County Cork,where they both died and were buried.

Personal life

Winslow Homer'sChildren Under a Palm Tree

Blake married twice: Jeannie Irwin in 1862 (she died in 1866), andEdith Bernal Osbornein Ireland, on 7 February 1874 (she was the daughter of MPRalph Bernal Osborne). He had two sons, and one daughter Olive, who marriedJohn Bernard Arbuthnot.During his period as Governor of The Bahamas, a watercolour of his three children,Children Under a Palm,was painted byWinslow Homer.The painting was subsequently featured on the BBC TV programme,Fake or Fortune?

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 ofOrder of St. John of Jerusalem
• Fellow ofRoyal Geographical Society(FRGS)
• JP
• DL
• Fellow of Royal Colonial Institute (FRCI)
• Fellow ofInstitute of Directors(FIoD)
• Honorary Colonel of Ceylon Mounted Rifles
• District Grand Master Ceylon Freemasons
• Member, Council Royal Dublin Society
• Honorary Member, Royal Zoological Society, London

Coat of arms of Henry Arthur Blake

Notes Confirmed 6 February 1896 byArthur Edward Vicars,Ulster King of Arms. Crest On a wreath of the colours a cat-a-mountain passant guardant Proper charged with a crescent as in the arms. Escutcheon Quarterly 1st & 4th Argent a fret Gules in chief a crescent of the last a crescent for difference (Blake) 2nd & 3rd Sable three lions passant between four bendlets Argent in chief a fleur de lys of the last for difference (Browne). Motto Virtus Sola Nobilitat

Legacy

The community ofBlaketownin Canada was named in his honour when he was the governor of Newfoundland.Blake Garden,Blake Pier( bặc công mã đầu ) and Blake Block (now within the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Headquarters) are named after him.

TheBauhinia blakeana,discovered in Hong Kong around 1880, was named after him (Blake shared his wife's interest in botany). It became an emblem of Hong Kong in 1965 and has been the official emblem from 1 July 1997. It appears on theflag of Hong Kongand itscurrency.

TheJohn Crow Mountainsin Jamaica were renamed the Blake Mountains in 1890 but the name did not stick.

Publications

• McGrath, Terence, pseud. [i.e. Sir Henry Arthur Blake.] 1880,Pictures from Ireland.Kegan Paul & Co.: London, 1880.Available from archive.org
• "Ceylon".The Empire and the century.London: John Murray. 1905. pp. 707–15.

See also

• History of Hong Kong
• The Tribes of Galway– see Blake

Sources

• Dictionary of Irish Biography,pp. 583–84, Cambridge, 2010.
• Biography at Government HouseThe Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador

External links

• Works by Henry Arthur BlakeatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Henry Arthur Blakeat theInternet Archive
• https://web.archive.org/web/20121103011435/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/wilde.htm