View source for Henry Arthur Blake

{{Short description|British colonial administrator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2010}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Henry Arthur Blake
| honorific-prefix    =[[Sir]]
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCMG|DL|JP|FRGS}}
| image               = Henry Arthur Blake.jpg
| caption             = 
| order               = 46th
| office              = Governor of The Bahamas
| term_start          = 4 January 1884
| term_end            = 1887
| monarch             = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| predecessor         = Sir [[Charles Cameron Lees]]
| successor           = Sir [[Ambrose Shea]]
| order2              = 55th
| office2             = Governor of Newfoundland
| term_start2         = 1887
| term_end2           = December 1888
| monarch2            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| predecessor2        = Sir G W Des Voeux
| successor2          = Sir John T N O'Brien
| order3              = 65th
| office3             = Governor of Jamaica
| term_start3         = 23 December 1888
| term_end3           = 1898
| monarch3            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| predecessor3        = William Clive Justice (Ag)
| successor3          = Henry Jardine Hallowes (Ag)
| order4              = 12th
| office4             = Governor of Hong Kong
| term_start4         = 25 November 1898
| term_end4           = 21 November 1903
| monarch4            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]<br>[[Edward VII]]
| 1blankname4         = [[Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong|Lieutenant Governor]]
| 1namedata4          = [[Wilsone Black|Sir Wilsone Black]]<br/>[[William Julius Gascoigne|Sir William Gascoigne]]
| 2blankname4         = [[Chief Secretary for Administration|Colonial Secretary]]
| 2namedata4          = [[James Stewart Lockhart|Sir Stewart Lockhart]]<br/>[[Francis Henry May|Sir Francis Henry May]]
| predecessor4        = [[William Robinson (colonial administrator, born 1836)|Sir William Robinson]]
| successor4          = [[Matthew Nathan|Sir Matthew Nathan]]
| order5              = 19th
| office5             = Governor of British Ceylon
| term_start5         = 3 December 1903
| term_end5           = 11 July 1907
| predecessor5        = [[Everard im Thurn|Sir Everard im Thurn]] (Ag)
| successor5          = [[Hugh Clifford (colonial administrator)|Hugh Clifford]] (Ag)
| monarch5            = [[Edward VII]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1840|1|8}}
| birth_place         = [[Limerick]], [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1918|2|13|1840|1|8}}
| death_place         = [[Myrtle Grove, Youghal|Myrtle Grove]], [[Youghal]], [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|County Cork, Ireland]]
| resting_place       = Myrtle Grove, Youghal, County Cork, Ireland
| profession          = Constable, magistrate, colonial administrator
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Jeannie Irwin|1862|1866|end=d}}
* {{marriage|[[Edith Blake|Edith Bernal Osborne, Lady Blake]]|1874}}
}}
| children            = 3
| module              = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|c=卜力|j=buk1 lik6|p=|por=}}
}}

'''Sir Henry Arthur Blake''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCMG|DL|JP|FRGS}}<ref>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.</ref> ({{lang-zh|c=卜力|sl=Buk<sup>1</sup> Lik<sup>6</sup>}}; 8{{nbsp}}January 1840{{snd}}23{{nbsp}}February 1918) was an Irish-born [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] colonial administrator who held the governorships of six British colonies over the course of his career.

==Early life, family and career==
Blake was born in [[Limerick]], Ireland. He was the son of Peter Blake of [[Daly Castle|Corbally Castle]] (c. 1805 – bur. [[St. Ann's Church, Dawson Street|St. Ann's]], [[Dublin]], 19 November 1850), a [[Galway]]-born county [[Inspector]] of the [[Irish Constabulary]], and wife (m. [[Mobarnan]], [[County Tipperary]]) Jane Lane ([[Lanespark]], County Tipperary, 5 March 1819 – ?), daughter of John Lane of [[Lanespark]], 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 of [[John 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 of [[Sir Richard Blake]] and wife Gyles Kirwan.<ref>Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, editor, ''Burke's Irish Family Records'' (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976), Blake, page 120.</ref>

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.<ref name = "Airlie">{{cite book|last=Airlie|first=Shiona M|title=Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2012|page=32|isbn=9789888083664}}</ref>

==Early colonial services==
In 1884, Blake was made [[Governor of Bahamas]], a position he held until 1887. He was appointed to [[Queensland]] in 1886 but resigned without entering the administration, following an imbroglio between Secretary of State for the Colonies, [[Lord Knutsford]], and the premier of Queensland, Sir [[Thomas M'Ilwraith]], on the appointment.<ref>{{cite Q|Q107340736}}<!-- The Moral of Queensland Imbroglio --></ref> In 1887, he moved to [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], where he was governor until the end of 1888, being knighted on 7 November that year.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shaw|first=William Arthur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4xUsPyL6koC&pg=PA373|title=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|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com|date=1971|page=373|isbn=9780806304434|access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref> In 1889 he became the Captain-General and [[Governor 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 appointed [[governor of Hong Kong]], a position he held until November 1903.<ref name = "Airlie" /> 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 (1899)|Six-Day War]]; British forces under [[William Gascoigne (British Army officer)|William Gascoigne]] defeated the ''punti'' clans, although Blake adopting an amiable co-operation policy to prevent further unrest and allowed the clans to retain their traditional laws and customs in regards to land inheritance, land usage and marriage.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism |first=Patrick H. |last=Hase |author-link=Patrick Hase |year=2008 |publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]] |location=Hong Kong |isbn=9789622098992 |page=111}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hkcfa.hk/en/about/cfa_building/supreme_court/index.html|publisher=Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal|title=The Old Supreme Court Building – Brief History|access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref>

==Post-Hong Kong==
Blake was appointed [[British governors of Ceylon|Governor of Ceylon]] at 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 impressed [[George Ernest Morrison|George Morrison]] with his bitterness at not landing a Privy Council sinecure in gratitude for his 41 years' public service.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pearl|first=Cyril|title=Morrison of Peking|publisher=Angus & Robertson|place=Sydney, Australia|date=1967}}</ref>{{rp|184}}

The Blakes retired to [[Myrtle Grove, Youghal|Myrtle Grove]] in Youghal, [[County Cork]], where they both died and were buried.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/the-girl-in-the-painting-2303618.html Independent article by Patrick Cockburn]</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Winslow Homer's 'Children Under a Palm Tree'.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Winslow Homer's ''Children Under a Palm Tree'']]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Children Under a Palm Tree.jpg|thumb|right|''Children Under a Palm'', showing Blake's children at a fancy dress party]] -->Blake married twice: Jeannie Irwin in 1862 (she died in 1866), and [[Edith Blake|Edith Bernal Osborne]] in Ireland, on 7 February 1874 (she was the daughter of MP [[Ralph Bernal Osborne]]). He had two sons Maurice, Arthur, 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?]]''<ref name="FoF2">{{Cite episode
 | title = Homer
 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0125gq3
 | access-date = 2011-08-04
 | series = Fake or Fortune?
 | series-link = Fake or Fortune?
 | network = [[BBC]]
 | airdate = 2011-06-26
 | number = 2
}}</ref>

==Honours and arms==
* [[Order of St Michael and St George|Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)]], 1887
* [[Order of St Michael and St George|Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)]], 1888
* [[Order of St Michael and St George|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)
* [[Justice of the Peace|JP]]
* [[Deputy Lieutenant|DL]]
* Fellow of Royal Colonial Institute (FRCI)
* Fellow of [[Institute 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

{{Infobox COA wide
|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).
|crest = On a wreath of the colours a cat-a-mountain passant guardant Proper charged with a crescent as in the arms. 
|notes = Confirmed 6 February 1896 by [[Arthur Edward Vicars]], [[Ulster King of Arms]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000529303 |publisher=National Library of Ireland |page=358 |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. H |date=11 February 1880 |accessdate=19 August 2022}}</ref>
|motto = Virtus Sola Nobilitat
}}

==Legacy==
The community of [[Blaketown, Newfoundland and Labrador|Blaketown]] in Canada was named in his honour when he was the governor of Newfoundland. [[Blake Garden, Hong Kong|Blake Garden]], [[Blake Pier Hong Kong|Blake Pier]] (卜公碼頭) and Blake Block (now within the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Headquarters) are named after him.

The ''[[Bauhinia 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 the [[flag of Hong Kong]] and its [[Coins of the Hong Kong dollar|currency]].<ref name = "Airlie" />

The [[John Crow Mountains]] in Jamaica were renamed the Blake Mountains in 1890 but the name did not stick.<ref name="JPN">{{cite book|last=Higman|first=B W|author2=Hudson|others=B J|title=Jamaican Place Names|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|location=Mona, Jamaica|year=2009|edition=1st|isbn=978-976-640-217-4|pages=89–90}}</ref>

==Publications==
* McGrath, Terence, pseud. [i.e. Sir Henry Arthur Blake.] 1880, ''Pictures from Ireland''. Kegan Paul & Co.: London, 1880. [https://archive.org/details/picturesfromire00mcgrgoog Available from archive.org]
* {{cite book |title=The Empire and the century|chapter=[[s:The Empire and the century/Ceylon|Ceylon]]|date=1905 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |pages=707–15}}

==See also==
*[[History of Hong Kong]]
*[[The Tribes of Galway]] – see Blake

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', pp.&nbsp;583–84, Cambridge, 2010.
* [https://www.heritage.nf.ca/govhouse/governors/g55.html Biography at Government House ''The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador'']

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=41923| name=Henry Arthur Blake}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Henry Arthur Blake |sopt=t}}
* https://web.archive.org/web/20121103011435/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/wilde.htm

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[Charles Cameron Lees]] | title = [[Governor of the Bahamas]]| years = 1884–1887 | after = [[Ambrose Shea]]}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[William Des Vœux]] | title = [[List of Newfoundland and Labrador lieutenant-governors#Colonial Governors of Newfoundland, 1855–1907|Colonial Governor of Newfoundland]]| years = 1887–1889 | after = Sir [[John Terence Nicholls O'Brien]]}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[Henry Wylie Norman]] | title = [[Governor of Jamaica]]| years = 1889–1898 | after = Augustus William Lawson Hemming}}
{{succession box | before = Major-General [[Wilsone Black]], Acting Administrator | title = [[Governor of Hong Kong]]| years = 1898–1903 | after = Sir [[Francis Henry May]], Acting Administrator}}
{{succession box | before = [[Everard im Thurn|Sir Everard im Thurn]]<br><small>''acting governor''</small>| title = [[Governor of Ceylon]]| years = 1903–1907 | after = [[Hugh Clifford (colonial administrator)|Hugh Clifford]]<br><small>''acting governor''</small>}}
{{s-end}}

{{British Governor of Ceylon}}
{{Governor of Hong Kong}}
{{NLLG}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Henry Arthur}}
[[Category:Governors of British Ceylon]]
[[Category:Governors of Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Governors of Jamaica]]
[[Category:Governors of Newfoundland Colony]]
[[Category:British governors of the Bahamas]]
[[Category:1840 births]]
[[Category:1918 deaths]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Deputy lieutenants in Ireland]]
[[Category:People from County Limerick]]
[[Category:19th-century British politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century British politicians]]