BLAKE, Patrick (?1742-84), of Langham, Suff.

Blake inherited considerable property in St. Kitts from his grandfather, but from his father ‘1s. only, because of his undutifullness ... and following the advice of a parcel of Irish knaves who mean nothing but to plunder him’.Will of Andrew Blake, quoted Oliver, Antigua, i. 54.

He seems to have applied to Grafton for a seat at the general election of 1768. Sir William Musgrave wrote to Lord Carlisle, 1 Oct. 1767, that Grafton had proposed Blake for Morpeth ‘and as you had directed me to take the Duke’s nomination without exception, I immediately agreed’. But on 16 Oct.: ‘Mr. Blake ... has engaged himself in a contest at Sudbury, where it is thought he will be drawn into great expenses without success.’HMC Carlisle, 216. Blake stood at Sudbury on a joint interest with Walden Hanmer, backed by Government. There was both expense and success, and a petition against the return. In Parliament he voted with Opposition on Wilkes’s petition, 27 Jan. 1769, and expulsion, 3 Feb. 1769; with Administration on Brass Crosby, 27 Mar. 1771; was classed as ‘pro, present’ in Robinson’s two surveys on the royal marriage bill, March 1772, and as ‘pro’ before the general election. In 1774 he was defeated at Sudbury but seated on petition. He does not appear in the five minority lists October 1775-December 1778, but was classed as ‘contra, absent’ on the contractors bill, 12 Feb. 1779. His only reported votes in this Parliament were with Opposition on the censure motion against the Admiralty, 8 Mar. 1779, Dunning’s motion, 6 Apr. 1780, and the motion against prorogation 24 Apr. In 1780 he was re-elected at Sudbury at the head of the poll. The English Chronicle in 1780 or 1781 described him as ‘attached to the cause of patriotism’, and though he voted with Administration on Lowther’s motion against the war, 12 Dec. 1781, he voted with Opposition on the censure motion against the Admiralty, 20 Feb. 1782, and on Conway’s motion against the war, 22 Feb. No other vote by him is reported before he left Parliament. Robinson, March 1783, listed him as ‘ill or cannot attend’, and January 1784 as ‘doubtful, absent’; Stockdale, 19 Mar. 1784, as ‘Administration’. There is no record of his having spoken in the House. Blake did not stand again at the general election, and died 1 July 1784.