BLAKE, Sir Francis (1774-1860), of Tilmouth Park, co. Durham. and 15 Sloane Street, London, Mdx.

Described by Lord Durham as a ‘straight forward and uncompromising reformer’, Blake was born at Heston, Middlesex, the eldest son of Sir Francis Blake, a political writer, and senior partner in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne bank of Blake, Reed and Company, who owned the 2,000 acre Twizell estate in Tilmouth Park, county Durham, and held substantial interests in Berwick.1J. Lambert to Earl Grey, 13 May 1832, quoted in M. Wickham, ‘Berwick-upon-Tweed: a venal borough?’, Journal of Liberal History, 48 (2005), 25; HP Commons, 1820-32, iv. 288. Blake succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1818, and acquired control of the family estates four years later, but due to his father’s propensity for spending ‘large sums of money very absurdly’, they were mired in debt.2Berwick Advertiser, 11 Aug. 1860. Despite a series of subsequent land sales, transfers and remortgaging, Blake’s financial position remained fragile until his retirement from public life.3HP Commons, 1820-1832, iv. 288. Elected for Berwick-upon-Tweed in December 1820, he gained a reputation for being a bold speaker, and staunchly supported Catholic relief, although this, and his lack of financial resources, cost him his seat at the 1826 general election. After his supporters successfully petitioned against the result, however, he was returned at the ensuing by-election, and thereafter divided regularly with the Whig opposition and then Earl Grey’s ministry during the pre-Reform era.4Ibid.

In anticipation of an expensive contest at the 1832 general election, Blake took out an additional £3,340 mortgage that July, and following a fierce contest where he declared his support for poor law reform, church reform and the abolition of slavery, he was returned in second place.5Ibid.; Berwick Advertiser, 15 Dec. 1832. He also proposed Henry Grey, viscount Howick, for the new Northumberland North constituency, which included his Norhamshire and Islandshire estates.6HP Commons, 1820-32, ?. ? Although he made no known speeches in the post-Reform era, Blake’s voting record reflected his radical sympathies. He divided in minorities for a committee on agricultural distress, 21 Mar. 1833, for the abolition of flogging in the military, 2 Apr. 1833, for currency reform, 24 Apr. 1833, and for the shortening of slave apprenticeships, 24 July 1833, before his attendance lapsed in the 1834 session.

At the 1835 general election, Blake’s financial difficulties prompted the Berwick Harmonic Society to stage a concert and ball to raise funds to return him ‘free of all expense to himself’.7Morning Chronicle, 11 Dec. 1834. Faced with a strong Conservative opponent, however, Blake was defeated. He immediately offered for the county seat of Berwickshire, where it was reported that signed requisitions and the promise of fully paid expenses were in place for any candidate who would stand in the reform interest, but after failing to attend the nomination, where he was nonetheless proposed and seconded, his candidacy was unsuccessful, and he did not stand for Parliament again.8Caledonian Mercury, 12 Jan., 15 Jan. 1835; Morning Chronicle, 16 Jan. 1835.

His parliamentary career over, Blake’s commitment to reform became more pronounced and he subsequently published two radical pamphlets: Peers all alike (1838), which advocated an elected Upper Chamber; and The House of Lords, the People’s Charter and the Corn Laws (1839). In the latter, he attacked the ‘proud feeling of superiority in the aristocracy’ and argued that Melbourne’s ministry had been ‘baffled by the Tories, to whom they tacitly submit, not from weakness of their cause ... but from a short-sighted politic in risking future danger for present ease’. Giving his implicit support for extensive reform of the franchise, he therefore urged the Whigs to ‘unite cordially with the people, to support Reform on the first great principle of constitutional government – that the supreme power belongs by right to the people’.9Sir F. Blake, The House of Lords, the People’s Charter and the Corn Laws (1839), 4-8.

Blake died without legitimate issue in August 1860 at his London house in Sloane Street.10The date of death erroneously given for Blake in Burke PB and elsewhere, 10 Sept. 1860, is based on misinformation in the Berwick Journal, 22 Sept. 1860. His sole surviving sibling, Eleanor Anne, took immediate possession of his estates, delaying the announcement of his death until late September, but after a protracted litigation, Blake’s illegitimate children and their heirs were confirmed as his successors in 1873.11The Times, 21 Apr. 1873. His grandson, Francis Douglas Blake (1856-1940), inherited Tilmouth Park, was created a baronet in 1907, and represented Berwick-upon-Tweed as a Liberal, 1916-22.12HP Commons, 1820-1832, ?. ?. Blake’s records and correspondence are located at the Berwick-upon-Tweed record office.13BRO 129/4/4.