Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/101

BLAIR—BLAKE.  were, as First-Lieutenant – 24 July, 1811, to the 74, Capt. Thos. Alexander – 11 Aug. 1812, to the 28, Capt. Edw. Woolcombe – and, after an interval of more than two years, 13 Oct. 1815, to the 74, Capt. T. Alexander – all on the Home station. Having been on half-pay since 24 March, 1816, he ultimately, on 19 May, 1837, accepted the rank of Retired Commander. – Messrs. Ommanney.

 BLAIR. 

was born 28 Feb. 1809.

This officer entered the Navy, 5 May, 1823, as Midshipman, on board the 24, Capt. Sam. Roberts, on the Newfoundland station. He subsequently served in the 42, Capt. Hood Hanway Christian, at the Cape of Good Hope, and  104, Capt. Hon. Geo. Elliot, guardship at Portsmouth; passed his examination, 6 N ov. 1829; and was made Lieutenant into the 76, Capts. Wm. Henry Shirreff and Jas. Wigston, on the South American station, 10 Feb. 1830. He afterwards joined – 6 Oct. in the same year, the 28, Capt. Lord Colchester, employed in the Pacific and North Sea – 25 Oct. 1833, the  74, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, in the Mediterranean – for a short period in 1835, the 74, Capt. Edw. Chetham, in which ship he returned to England – 10 April, 1837, the Coast Guard – and, 6 Dec. 1841, as First-Lieutenant, the 120, bearing the flag, at Portsmouth, of Sir Edw. Codrington. He was promoted to his present rank 7 March, 1842; and, since 23 Dec. 1845, has been employed as an Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard.

Commander Blair married, 24 April, 1837, Mary, eldest daughter of the Rev. C. Massingberd, Rector of Kettlethorpe, co. Lincoln, by whom he has issue three children.

 BLAIR. 

entered the Royal Naval College 3 June, 1819; and embarked, in April, 1822, as Midshipman, on board the 28, Capt. Constantine Rich. Moorsom, stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, whence, after removing to the 42, Commodore Joseph Nourse, he returned home in 1825, as Mate, in the  42, Capt. Sir Chas. Sullivan. Having passed his examination in 1826, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 28 April, 1827, in the 84, bearing the flag in the Mediterranean of Sir Edw. Codrington, under whom, including the battle of Navarin, he continued to serve until obliged to invalid, in 1830. His next appointments were – 17 May, 1831, to the 42, Capt. Wm. Walpole, in the West Indies – and, in 1832, to the 18, Capt. Mark Halpen Sweny, which vessel he left in March, 1833. He was afterwards employed in the Coast Guard, from 16 Aug. 1838, until advanced to the rank he now holds, 23 Nov. 1841; and, since 7 July, 1843, has been officiating as an Inspecting Commander in the same service.

He became a widower 8 Jan. 1846. – Hallett and Robinson.

 BLAIR. 

, born in 1807, is eldest surviving son of the late Col. Wm. Blair, of Blair, co. Ayr, M.P. for that shire, by Magdalene, daughter of the late John Fordyce, Esq., of Ayton, co. Berwick, for many years Commissioner of the Woods and Forests; and younger brother of the late Capts. Hamilton Blair and John Chas. Blair, R.N. He is the representative of a family which has been of high standing in the co. Ayr for the last six centuries.

This officer entered the Royal Naval College 5 March, 1818; and embarked, in July, 1820, as Midshipman, on board the 80, Capt. Chas. Marsh Schomberg, bearing the flag of Sir Graham Moore on the Mediterranean station, where he shortly afterwards witnessed the taking of Naples by the Austrians, and was present in the 46, at Scio and Smyrna, during the Turkish massacre of the Greeks, many of whom were saved in the boats of that frigate. After an attachment of a few months to the 46, Capt. Lord Napier, he served during part of the Burmese war on board the  50, Capt. Thos. Coe; and, on his subsequent transference to the 52, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Hall Gage, he appears to have been much employed in boat operations against the Malay pirates. Having passed his examination in Sept. 1826, he became successively Mate, in Oct. 1827, and March, 1828, of the 26, Capt. Jas. John Gordon Bremer, and 46, Capt. Edmund Lyons. He took part, about the latter period, in the blockade of Navarin, and in the following Oct. was employed on shore in constructing batteries, and otherwise co-operating with the French army during the siege of Morea Castle. Being promoted to a Lieutenancy, 4 March, 1829, in the 18, Capt. Thos. Edw. Hoste, Mr. Blair was next for some time occupied in watching the Russian fleet at the mouth of the Dardanells; after which, he united with the French in their operations against Algiers, and was further active in the extirpation of piracy from the Archipelago. While subsequently attached, from 1 Dec. 1830, until May, 1835, to the 120, bearing the flag of Sir Pulteney Malcolm, we find him variously employed in the Mediterranean in reference to the affairs of Greece and Turkey, and off Lisbon during the Pedro and Miguel disputes – independently of a short time spent in blockading the Dutch coast. He was reappointed, on 5 April, 1836, to the, as Flag-Lieutenant, pro tem, to Sir Philip Durham at Portsmouth, but was superseded in March, 1837, and has since been on half-pay. His last commission bears date 23 Nov. 1841.

Commander Blair is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Ayr. He married, 22 July, 1840, Caroline Isabella, youngest daughter of the late John Sprot, Esq., of London, by whom he has issue two daughters. – Goode and Lawrence.

 BLAKE. 

is eldest son of Henry Blake, Esq., of Renvyle, co. Galway, by Martha Louisa, daughter of Joseph Attersoll, Esq., of Portland Place, London; and grandson of Valentine Blake, Esq., of Lehinch and Renvyle, High-Sheriff of Mayo, who married a grand-daughter of the 8th Lord Teynham.

This officer passed his examination 1 April, 1835; and was for some time employed, as Mate, on board the gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Thos. Hastings, the 10, commanded on the coast of Africa by Lieut. Edw. Chas. Earle, and the and, flag-ships at the Nore of Sir John Chambers White. He obtained his commission 24 March, 1845; and has been since serving in the 42, Capt. John Norman Campbell, on the S.E. coast of America.

 BLAKE. 

entered the Navy, 2 July, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 36, Capt. John Culverhouse, in which frigate, after attending the ensuing expedition to the Helder, he attained the rating of Midshipman, and in that capacity accompanied the force sent against Egypt in 1801, where he served with the army before Alexandria, and up the river Nile. In Nov. 1802, he joined the Culloden 74, flag-ship in the Channel of Rear-Admirals Geo. Campbell and Cuthbert Collingwood, and afterwards commanded by Capt. Barrington Dacres, under whom he assisted in chasing into the port of Corunna, after a long running fight, the French 74-gun ship Duguay Trouin, and 40-gun frigate Guerrière, 2 Sept. 1803. Between March, 1804, and April, 1805, Mr. Blake was further employed for short periods on board the 74, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Graves, and again, Capt. B. Dacres, both in the Channel, the, first-rate, Capt. John Dilkes, lying at Plymouth, the 