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89

BLAKISTON—BLANCKLEY—BLAND.

of 14 guns and 51 men, after an obstinate conflict, 25 Oct. 1810. He invalided from the Calliope, 27 Feb. 1811, and was subsequently appointed – 25 June following, to the Pylades sloop, Capt. Geo. Ferguson, employed in the Baltic, and also in the North Sea, whence his health obliged him to return in Feb. 1812 – 14 Nov. in the same year, to the Cadmus 10, Capt. Thos. Fife, in the Channel – and 29 July, 1814, to the Portia 14, Capt. Thompson. The last was but a nominal appointment, as in a few days afterwards he again invalided. He has since been on half-pay.

Lieut. Blake is married, and has issue.



BLAKISTON. (Commander, 1821. f-p., 15; h-p., 29.)

Thomas Blakiston, born in Dec. 1790, is fourth son of the late Sir Matthew Blakiston, Bart., by Ann, daughter of John Rochford, Esq., of Clogranne, co. Carlow; and brother both of the present Baronet, and of Capt. John Blakiston, of the 27th regiment. His paternal grandfather was Lord Mayor of London in 1760.

This officer entered the Navy, 4 June, 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Magnificent 74, Capt. Wm. Henry Jervis, in which ship he was wrecked on a sunken rock near Brest, 25 March, 1804. He then became Midshipman of the Tonnant 80, commanded by the same officer, and next served with Sir John Gore in the Medusa 32, and Revenge 74, on the East India and Home stations. Being unfortunately taken prisoner on the night of 15 July, 1806, while employed with the boats of a squadron in an attempt to bring out a convoy of 50 sail, lying under the protection of two brig-corvettes in the river Gironde, he remained in captivity until the close of 1809, when he contrived to escape from the prison of Givet, and reached Flushing, then in the possession of the British. He passed his examination early in Jan. 1810, and on 11 of the same month was made Lieutenant into the Harpy 18, Capt. Geo. Wm. Blamey. On 4 Sept. following he rejoined Sir John Gore in the Tonnant, stationed in the Channel, and, on again accompanying him into the Revenge, assisted in the boats of that ship at the cutting out of a French felucca privateer from the harbour of Falamos, on the coast of Spain, 8 Nov. 1813.[1] The Revenge being paid off in Sept. 1814, Mr. Blakiston, from 25 March, 1818, until his advancement to his present rank, 2 July, 1821, was next employed in the Bulwark 74, as Flag-Lieutenant to his friend Sir J. Gore, who, during that period, was Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. He has not since been employed.

He married, 9 Aug. 1827, Harriet, fourth daughter of John Harvey, Esq., of Thorpe Lodge, co. Norfolk, and by that lady has issue three daughters.



BLANCKLEY. (Capt., 1841. f-p., 17; h-p., 24.)

Edward Blanckley died 4 May, 1845. He was son of H. S. Blanckley, Esq., many years Consul-General at Algiers.

This officer entered the Navy, 17 Jan. 1805, as Midshipman, on board the Madras 54, Capt. Chas. Marsh Schomberg, stationed in the Mediterranean, where, during a continuance of more than nine years, he successively joined – in July, 1807, and Dec. 1808, the Pylades sloop and Glatton 56, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Miller Bligh – in May, 1809, the Wizard 16, Capt. Abel Ferris – and in Oct. 1809, and March, 1810, the Mercury 28, and Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan. He assisted, on 2 Nov. 1811, in conjunction with the Thames 32, at the gallant capture and destruction, in the harbour of Palinuro, on the coast of Calabria, of 10 gun-boats and 22 richly-laden feluccas, although defended by a strong tower, two batteries, and a land force of 700 men; contributed next, 27 June, 1812, to the destruction of a French convoy and of the batteries of Languelia and Alassio, in the Gulf of Genoa; was present, on 17 Aug. in the same year, in a spirited skirmish with a powerful Neapolitan squadron in the Bay of Naples; participated, with the squadron under Capt. Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, in the capture, 5 Oct. 1813, of 29 French vessels, anchored under the guns of two batteries and a tower, at Port d’Anzo; and subsequently witnessed, independently of many other services, the operations at Via Reggio and Leghorn, under Sir Josias Rowley. From the Impérieuse Mr. Blanckley accompanied Capt. Duncan, in Aug. 1814, into the Glasgow 50, which ship, after cruizing for some months off the Western Islands, he left in April, 1815, having been a short time before, on 6 Feb., advanced to the rank of Lieutenant. His next appointment was, 16 May, 1822, to the Alligator 28, Capt. Thos. Alexander, fitting for the East India station, where his exertions during the Burmese war were rewarded by his promotion to the acting-command of the Sophie sloop, about April, 1825. The Admiralty accorded their sanction to the appointment 10 Dec. in the same year; but, the Sophie having been previously sold, Capt. Blanckley returned to England a passenger in the Liffey 50, Capt. Thos. Coe, 21 Jan. 1826. He lastly, on 22 May, 1831, obtained command of the Pylades 18, for service in South America. On his passage thither he received the open acknowledgments of the British residents at Madeira for “his manly protection of their interests at an eventful period.” After serving most creditably for three years, during which period he also elicited the public thanks of the British merchants at Pemambuco for his active protection of themselves and their property at a time of revolt and massacre, he returned home with a freight of 400,000 dollars, and was paid off in June, 1834. His elevation to Post-rank took place 23 Jan. 1841.

Capt. Blanckley married, first, in 1820, Harriet, third daughter of Geo. Matcham, Esq., of Ashford Lodge, Sussex, niece, maternally, of the hero of Trafalgar, and sister-in-law of Lieuts. John Bendyshe, R.N., Arthur Davies, R.N., and Henry Wm. Mason, R.N., by whom he had, with other issue, a son, the present Lieut. Henry Duncan Blanckley, R.N. He married, secondly, 14 July, 1841, Sarah Elizabeth, of Redland Hall, co. Gloucester, eldest daughter of the late Sir Geo. Nayler, Garter King-at-Arms. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



BLANCKLEY. (Lieutenant, 1844.)

Henry Duncan Blanckleyy is son of the late Capt. Edw. Blanckley, R.N., and grand-nephew of the first Lord Nelson.

This officer entered the Navy in 1832; passed his examination 1 May, 1839; and served as Mate, on the Home, Cape of Good Hope, and Mediterranean stations, of the Salamander and Devastation steam-vessels, both commanded by Capt. Hastings Reginald Henry, Heroine brig, Lieut.-Commander Thos. Dilnot Stewart, Isis 44, Capt. Sir John Marshall, Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir David Milne, and Flamer steamer, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Jas. Postle. He was appointed soon after his promotion, which took place 2 Dec. 1844, to the Rattler steam-sloop, Capt. Henry Smith; and since 12 June, 1846, has been serving in the Inflexible, a similar vessel, Capt. John Cochrane Hoseason, on the East India station.



BLAND. (Lieutenant, 1845.)

Alleyne Bland entered the Navy in 1832, and passed his examination 3 July, 1839. After serving for a considerable time as Mate, on the East India and Home stations, of the Druid 44, Capt. Henry Smith, and Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 24 March, 1845, in the Racehorse 18, Capts. Geo. Jas. Hay and Edw. Southwell Sotheby, with the latter of whom he is again doing duty in the East Indies. He appears, on 10 and 11 Jan. 1846, to have been employed on shore in directing the fire of a breaching battery, in a successful attack made by the British on a stronghold belonging to a

  1. Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 124.