Mary Blake-Mason. B.A.
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Admiral Robert Blake 1598-1657 |
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The Blakes of Somersetshire.
One of the earliest Blakes
to be found living in Somerset was Humphrey Blake who bought the Sydenham
estate of Tuxwell in Spaxton in 1555 from George Sydenham. Humphrey’s son
Robert inherited this estate. Robert became a successful Merchant in Bridgwater
and the family fortunes grew. At this time, the Port of Bridgwater was the main
port for trade with Spain in the west of England and it is believed that a
Bridgwater ship belonging to the Blake family, brought the first news of the
sailing from Spain of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Robert Blake is
named in the Armada count of 1586, when he agrees to provided ‘ one light
horse.’ Robert’s namesake and
grandson, Robert, became the famous Admiral.
Robert Blake was a Colonel in the Army before Cromwell made him General at Sea in 1649, at the age of 50 years. During his Navy life he developed maneuvers that are still used by the navy today. He became a national hero because of his victories over the Dutch, French, Spaniards and Turks. Cromwell gave him a state funeral however when Charles the II came to the throne, Blake’s remains along with Cromwell’s were disinterred from Westminster Abbey. There have been many books written on the life of Admiral Blake but I quote here from John Oldmixon, 1673-1742, born at Oldmixon, near Weston-super-Mare, writing on the History and Life of Robert Blake, Esq.
“ There is not in History a greater Example of this kind, than that of General Blake, whose Courage, Conduct,
Fidelity, Disinterest and Public Spirit: as they had no Parallel in History before his Time, so we may despair
that so many heroick Qualities will ever meet again in the same Character, in our own or any other Times.”
Anne Blake the daughter of John Blake the elder was also a granddaughter of Humphrey Blake. She was probably named Anne after Humphrey’s wife. Anne married Thomas Saunders in 1575 at Over Stowey and nine children have been found from this marriage. Their daughter Elizabeth Saunders married Henry Wolcot and Elizabeth and Henry with four of their children sailed to the New World in 1630, also on board was Elizabeth cousin Thomas Richards. William Blake is also reported to have sailed in 1635, probably on the ‘Hopewell’ as William Black. Black being a common form of spelling the name Blake, as is Blaque, Bleek and Blick. William was the grandson of John Blake the elder and he settled in Dorchester, Mass.
Mary
Blake- Mason. April 2003.
I have looked at the two accepted versions on the Blake
families of Somerset and found that many of the family lines do not tally with
the records entered in the parish registers. However I have used some of these
accepted versions as a base, as there are too many lines for me to tackle
individually. I also have other names and information that I have not placed
onto the tree because of these anomalies.
Updated July 2003. Added the earlier Blakes
Updated Jan 2004. April
2004.
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Yeovil Somerset |
Created 18 Apr 2004 by EasyTree, from Sierra On-Line