Henry Arthur Blake
Sir Henry Arthur Blake | |||||||
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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 | Limerick,Ireland | 8 January 1840||||||
Died | 13 February 1918 Myrtle Grove,Youghal,County Cork, Ireland | (aged 78)||||||
Resting place | Myrtle Grove, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland | ||||||
Spouses | |||||||
Children | 3 | ||||||
Profession | Constable, magistrate, colonial administrator | ||||||
Chinese name | |||||||
Chinese | Bặc lực | ||||||
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Sir Henry Arthur BlakeGCMGDLJPFRGS[1](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
[edit]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.[2]
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.[3]
Early colonial services
[edit]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.[4]In 1887, he moved toNewfoundland,where he was governor until the end of 1888, being knighted on 7 November that year.[5]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
[edit]On 25 November 1898, Blake was appointedGovernor of Hong Kong,a position he held until November 1903.[3]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.[6]
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.[7]
Post-Hong Kong
[edit]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.[8]: 184
The Blakes retired toMyrtle Grovein Youghal,County Cork,where they both died and were buried.[9]
Personal life
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Winslow_Homer%27s_%27Children_Under_a_Palm_Tree%27.jpg/300px-Winslow_Homer%27s_%27Children_Under_a_Palm_Tree%27.jpg)
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?[10]
Honours and arms
[edit]- 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
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Legacy
[edit]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.[3]
TheJohn Crow Mountainsin Jamaica were renamed the Blake Mountains in 1890 but the name did not stick.[12]
Publications
[edit]- 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
[edit]- History of Hong Kong
- The Tribes of Galway– see Blake
References
[edit]- ^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.
- ^abcAirlie, Shiona M (2012).Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography.Hong Kong University Press. p. 32.ISBN9789888083664.
- ^Arthur Patchett Martin(1889). "The Moral of Queensland Imbroglio".Australia and the Empire:233–252.WikidataQ107340736.
- ^Shaw, William Arthur (1971).The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Knights Bachelors. Incorporating a Complete List of Knights Bachelors Dubbed in Ireland, Volume 1.Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 373.ISBN9780806304434.Retrieved16 September2016.
- ^Hase, Patrick H.(2008).The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism.Hong Kong:Hong Kong University Press.p. 111.ISBN9789622098992.
- ^"The Old Supreme Court Building – Brief History".Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.Retrieved16 September2016.
- ^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.Retrieved4 August2011.
- ^"Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. H".National Library of Ireland. 11 February 1880. p. 358.Retrieved19 August2022.
- ^Higman, B W; Hudson (2009).Jamaican Place Names.B J (1st ed.). Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. pp. 89–90.ISBN978-976-640-217-4.
Sources
[edit]- Dictionary of Irish Biography,pp. 583–84, Cambridge, 2010.
- Biography at Government HouseThe Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
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- Governors of British Ceylon
- Governors of Hong Kong
- Governors of Jamaica
- Governors of Newfoundland Colony
- British governors of the Bahamas
- 1840 births
- 1918 deaths
- Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Deputy lieutenants in Ireland
- People from County Limerick
- 19th-century British politicians
- 20th-century British politicians