87
BLAIR—BLAKE.
ments were, as First-Lieutenant – 24 July, 1811, to the Colossus 74, Capt. Thos. Alexander – 11 Aug. 1812, to the Circe 28, Capt. Edw. Woolcombe – and, after an interval of more than two years, 13 Oct. 1815, to the Vengeur 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. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
BLAIR. (Commander, 1842. f-p., 17; h-p., 7.)
Frederic Blair was born 28 Feb. 1809.
This officer entered the Navy, 5 May, 1823, as Midshipman, on board the Egeria 24, Capt. Sam. Roberts, on the Newfoundland station. He subsequently served in the Owen Glendower 42, Capt. Hood Hanway Christian, at the Cape of Good Hope, and Victory 104, Capt. Hon. Geo. Elliot, guardship at Portsmouth; passed his examination, 6 N ov. 1829; and was made Lieutenant into the Warspite 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 Volage 28, Capt. Lord Colchester, employed in the Pacific and North Sea – 25 Oct. 1833, the Edinburgh 74, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, in the Mediterranean – for a short period in 1835, the Talavera 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 St. Vincent 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. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 20; h-p., 8.)
Horatio Blair entered the Royal Naval College 3 June, 1819; and embarked, in April, 1822, as Midshipman, on board the Ariadne 28, Capt. Constantine Rich. Moorsom, stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, whence, after removing to the Andromache 42, Commodore Joseph Nourse, he returned home in 1825, as Mate, in the Galatea 42, Capt. Sir Chas. Sullivan. Having passed his examination in 1826, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 28 April, 1827, in the Asia 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 Pallas 42, Capt. Wm. Walpole, in the West Indies – and, in 1832, to the Gannet 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. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
BLAIR. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 18; h-p., 11.)
William Fordyce 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 Rochfort 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 Cambrian 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 Diamond 46, Capt. Lord Napier, he served during part of the Burmese war on board the Liffey 50, Capt. Thos. Coe; and, on his subsequent transference to the Java 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 Tamar 26, Capt. Jas. John Gordon Bremer, and Blonde 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 Wasp 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 Britannia 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 Britannia, 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. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
BLAKE. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
Edgar Henry 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 Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Thos. Hastings, the Rapid 10, commanded on the coast of Africa by Lieut. Edw. Chas. Earle, and the Camperdown and Queen, flag-ships at the Nore of Sir John Chambers White. He obtained his commission 24 March, 1845; and has been since serving in the Melampus 42, Capt. John Norman Campbell, on the S.E. coast of America.
BLAKE. (Captain, 1838. f-p., 25; h-p., 23.)
George Charles Blake entered the Navy, 2 July, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Romulus 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 Venerable 74, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Graves, and Culloden again, Capt. B. Dacres, both in the Channel, the Salvador del Mundo, first-rate, Capt. John Dilkes, lying at Plymouth, the Seine
