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The Blake Story, Part 1
The first three generations c.1765-1889
There were many Blake Families in 18th and 19th century England, and for centuries before that, including a number of Blake families in South Kent during the 18th century. This story focuses on a Blake family from Canterbury, Kent, England. The ancestors of Barbara, Julie and John Blake of Brisbane. It sits in this 'BFBI' site since Barbara married me in 2017.
Generation 1
The starting point is a George Blake who married an Elizabeth. We find them in Canterbury, Kent, between 1793 and 1803, where they have 8 children baptised, including two pairs of twins. Which makes it likely, but not of course certain, that they married around 1790 and were born around 1765.
Going back from these 1790s baptisms is speculative. There are four couples in Kent baptising children around this time where the husband is called George. George and Elizabeth in Canterbury from 1793-1803, George and Elizabeth in Hythe (18 miles south) a few years earlier in 1786, George and Margaret in Dover (16 miles SE) in 1790 to 1800 and George and Sarah in Sandwich (10 miles east) in 1806. 'Our' George cannot have been the husband of Margaret (since the baptisms overlap in time) but he could have been the man in Hythe in 1786 (possibly with the same wife) and/or the man in Sandwich in 1806. George of Sandwich dies in 1860 and his probate record does not feature ……. If George and Elizabeth of Hythe are the same couple then this puts the estimated birth date back to around 1760. The child born to G & E of Hythe was Elizabeth in 1786 - if they are the same then Elizabeth must have died between then and 1796 but I can find no death record.
At around the same time as George and Elizabeth were bringing up their family there were at least five other Blake families in Canterbury, possibly as many as seven. These are considered in Part 1A.
There is a shortage of recorded births a generation earlier. There are only three known earlier Canterbury births, in 1762 and 1763. It seems there was an influx into Canterbury from elsewhere. And an influx out shortly afterwards.
The only baptism of a George in the whole of Kent anywhere around the target dates is George, the son of George and Ann, baptised on 15th October 1759 at St Mary the Virgin, Dover, which is 16 miles from Canterbury.
No other alternatives have yet been found. That George and Margaret were baptising their children in the same church supports their case but the 'standard' generation gap (around 27 years for men) supports the claim of George of Hythe. However, in 1826 George (born c.1760) is buried at St Mary's Dover. Baptised, married and died at Dover looks clearcut. To claim George of Canterbury as the son of George and Ann is just wishful thinking. 'Our' George was obviously the child of someone - we all are - but his family history remains a mystery.
Generation 2
Our particular interest is William, the son of George and Elizabeth, who was baptised at St Dunstan's church, Canterbury on 8 July 1798. St Dunstans's is just outside the old city walls, on the road leading north-west from Westgate towards Whitstable.
King George III was King of Great Britain in 1798 and William Pitt the Younger was his Prime Minister. England was at war with France. Napoleon's fleet had reached Alexandria in Egypt a few days earlier, though no one in England would yet know this. A few weeks later Nelson would defeat them at the battle of the Nile.
Generation 3
{The weakest link in the chain of this family history is at this point. We cannot definitively say that the William born to George and Elizabeth is the same man as the William who is recorded as the father of William the younger}
The baptism record for son William ("the younger") shows the wife of William the elder to be Elizabeth. The marriage certificate of William the younger in 1855 says William the elder is a wire worker.
William Blake, the younger, was baptised at St Alphage in Canterbury on 28 November 1830, the son of William and Elizabeth. William the younger then appears in the 1851 census at Woodstock in Oxfordshire married to Emma Blake with one son Henry, aged 1 month. He is a wire worker.
In 1853 William and Emma are living at Waterside in Chesham when son William ("the third") is born on 5th February. His birth certificate gives his mother's name as Emma Blake formerly Platt (or just possibly Plant or Plath). William is again described as a wireworker. At Aylesbury in 1855 he marries Emma Trump.
On 10 April 1865 Charles, the great-grandfather of Julie, Barbara and John is born at Waterside in Chesham. By 1867 William & Emma and their family, Charles and his siblings, have moved to Sunbury in Middlesex.
William dies in 1889.
Generation 4
Charles Blake 1865-1953
Charles Blake, the emigrant to Australia, was born in the Waterside district of Chesham in Buckinghamshire on 10 April 1865 and within a few years moved to Sunbury-on-Thames in Middlesex. Presumably sometime before the birth of his sister Emma there in 1867.
He was certainly there by 1871 and was still at home with his parents in Sunbury, age 16, at the time of the 1881 census ( not aged 18 as the census shows !). In that census he, and his father, both appear to give their occupation as Gas Fitter.
In 1885, on the 9th May, Charles swore the oath, apparently in London, to enlist as a private soldier, number 2958, in the 2nd Dragoon Guards "The Queen's Bays".
He joins his regiment, at Aldershot in Hampshire, on 12th May. He is age 20, and says on enlistment that he is a blacksmith. He also declares that he had previously served in the Volunteers - 8 Middlesex. This reference would seem to be to the 8th Middlesex (South West Middlesex) Rifle Volunteer Corps (1) (which at some point became a volunteer battalion of the Middlesex Regiment). Which might explain why his age had been inflated at the time of the 1881 census.
His medical examination in London on 9th May, confirming him as fit for service in the Army, shows his physical particulars:
Shortly before Charles joined up, the 2nd Dragoon Guards
had returned to Aldershot from active service in Sudan
and Egypt. On the 3rd August 1885 they were inspected
by Major General Sir D.L. Drury Lowe K.C.B. The following
observations were made and communicated to the Regiment
by letter dated H.G.W.O. 23.10.85.
"This fine Regiment … has much improved of late as H.R.H. himself observed and may be considered in a generally very satisfactory condition."
The illustrations show, on the left, the full dress uniform of a private in the 2nd Dragoon Guards at this time and, on the right, the field-day order - exercises in full dress but without helmet plumes.
There would also have been an undress uniform and other orders of dress, such as stable dress. If you are interested you might take a look at the comprehensive uniformology site
(1) back to text I can find very little on this volunteer unit, except that it was one of hundreds of volunteer corps, of which the majority were rifle corps: http://www.territorioscuola.com/enhancedwiki/en.php?title=Volunteer_Force_(Great_Britain) Their uniform is reported as grey with grey facings. According to uniformology.com "Despite being a recent ally of France in the Crimean War of 1854-5, it was fear of invasion by that nation which encouraged the establishment of a volunteer force. The French victory over Austria in 1859 caused further alarm and even though the raising of Volunteer units had been under way for a couple of years, its pace was accelerated and thousands of Rifle Corps were raised all over England, Scotland and Wales. Organizing these enthusiastic but amateur soldiers presented a headache for the War Office but a system using the Lord Lieutenancies of the various counties under an old act of 1804 finally brought some order. Through various reforms during the next twenty years these Volunteer Rifle Corps were combined into companies, battalions and auxiliary units attached to the regular army."