Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/203

 the order of St. Andrew. He also strenuously advocated the claims to independence of the Egyptian nationalists from 1882 onwards, and of the Transvaal Boers from 1878 till his death.

Apart from current politics, Blind wrote much on history and on German and Indian mythology, contributing to leading reviews in England, Germany, America, and Italy. Among his better known articles were biographical studies of Freiligrath, Ledru-Rollin, and the Hungarian statesman, Francis Deak, 'Zur Geschichte der republikanischen Partei in England' (Berlin, 1873), and 'Fire-Burial among our Germanic Forefathers' (1875), which were reprinted in pamphlet form. To his advocacy was due the foundation of a memorial to Feuerbach the philosopher at Landshut, and the erection of monuments to Hans Sachs, the cobbler bard of Nuremberg, and to Walther von der Vogelweide at Bozen in 1877.

Blind died at Hampstead on 31 May 1907, and was cremated at Golder's Green. He married about 1849 Friederike Ettlinger, the widow of a merchant named Cohen, by whom he had one son, Rudolf Blind, an artist, and one daughter. Mathilde Blind [q. v. Suppl. I] was his step-daughter; Ferdinand Cohen Blind, who attempted Bismarck's life in Unter den Linden on 7 May 1866, and then committed suicide in prison, was his step-son.

A bust of Karl Blind is in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Ottilie Hancock.

 BLOOMFIELD, GEORGIANA, (1822–1905), author, born on 13 April 1822 at 51 Portland Place, London, was sixteenth and youngest child of Thomas Henry Liddell, first Baron Ravensworth, by his wife Marion Susannah, daughter of John Simpson of Bradley Hall, co. Durham. She was educated at home, and in December 1841 became maid of honour to Queen Victoria, resigning in July 1845. On 4 Sept. 1845, at Lanesley church, co. Durham, she married John Arthur Douglas, second Baron Bloomfield [q. v.], and accompanied her husband on his diplomatic missions, going at first to St. Petersburg, thence to Berlin (1851-60), and to Vienna (1861-71). There were no children of the marriage, and after her husband's death at his residence, Newport, co. Tipperary, in 1879, Lady Bloomfield settled at Shrivenham, in Berkshire, to be near her sister, Jane Elizabeth, widow of the sixth Viscount Barrington. When Lady Barrington died on 22 March 1883, Lady Bloomfield removed to Bramfield House, about two miles from Hertford. Here she exercised much hospitality and interested herself in the affairs of the village.

In 1883 she published 'Reminiscences of Court and Diplomatic Life' (2 vols.), 'a constant ripple of interesting anecdote,' as Augustus J. C. Hare described Lady Bloomfield's conversation (cf. Story of My Life, 1900, vol. vi.). She edited in 1884 a 'Memoir of Benjamin, Lord Bloomfield' [q. v.], her father-in-law, in 2 volumes. Her last work, 'Gleanings of a Long Life' (1902), collected extracts from her favourite books.

Lady Bloomfield, a 'grand dame' of an old school, kept up her friendship with Queen Victoria and her family, and delighted in social intercourse with all classes. While deeply religious on old, low church lines, she was tolerant and charitable. She founded in 1874 the Trained Nurses' Annuity Fund, and built and endowed almshouses on her husband's estate near Newport, co. Tipperary. She sketched well in water-colours, and her sketches formed a sort of diary of her journeys. She was an accomplished musician, playing the organ; was a good billiard player, and an excellent gardener.

She died, after a long illness, at Bramfield House on 21 May 1905, and was buried in the family mausoleum beside her husband in the churchyard of Borrisnafarney, King's County, Ireland.

 BLOUET, LÉON PAUL ('') (1848–1903), humorous writer, born in Brittany on 2 March 1848 and educated in Paris, served as a cavalry officer in the Franco-German war, was captured at Sedan, set at liberty early in 1871, and severely wounded in the second siege of Paris. In 1872 (having been retired on account of his wound) he came to England as correspondent to several French papers, and four years later became French 