Henry Arthur Blake
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Sir Henry Arthur Blake (1840 - 1918) was a British colonial governor.
Blake was born in Limerick, Ireland on January 8, 1840. He was the son of the late Peter Blake, County Inspector of Irish Constabulary. He started out as a draper's assistant at a haberdashery but soon joined the Irish Constabulary in 1859 where he worked as an inspector and Resident Magistrate (Duff) in 1876. He was raised to the position of Special Resident Magistrate in 1882. He was made governor of Bahamas in 1884-1887, and was transferred to Newfoundland in 1887-1889. He was appointed to Queensland in 1886, but resigned without entering upon the administration. He became the Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Jamaica in 1889. At the request of Legislature and public bodies of the Island, his term was extended in 1894, and again in 1896. He was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in 1898-1903, and of Ceylon in 1903-1907.
He died on 23 February 1918.
Blake was created C.M.G. in 1887, K.C.M.G. in l888, G.C.M.G. in 1897. He was invested Knight of Justice of Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
He was Fellow of Royal Geographical Society (F.R.G.S.), J.P., D.L., Fellow of Royal Colonial Institute (F.R.C.I.), Fellow of Institute of Directors (F.I.D.), Honorary Colonel of Ceylon Mounted Rifles, District Grand Master Ceylon Freemasons. In 1910, he became chairman of the newly-formed Newfoundland Oilfields Limited which explored oil deposits in the Parsons Pond area. He was also Member of the Council Royal Dublin Society, and Honorary Member of Royal Zoological Society, London.
His publication includes Pictures from Ireland, by Terence M’Grath, China, 1909.
Blake married twice. He got married in 1862 with Jeannie, daughter of Andrew Irwin of Ballymore, Boyle. Jeannie died in 1866. His second wife, with whom he got married in 1874, Edith, was the eldest daughter and co-heir of Ralph Bernal Osborne of Newtown Anner, Clonmel. Blake had two sons and one daughter, Olive Blake.
The community of Blaketown in Canada was named in his honour when he was the governor of Newfoundland.
Blake had a strong interest in botany. The tree bauhinia blakeana, which was first found in Hong Kong around 1880, was named after him. Its flower was adopted as the emblem of Hong Kong in 1965 and since 1997 it is the representative flower for the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, and appears on its flag and its coins.
See also
| Preceded by: Sir Charles Cameron Lees | Governor of Bahamas 1884-1887 | Followed by: Sir Ambrose Shea |
| Preceded by: Sir George William Des Voeux | Governor of Newfoundland 1887-1889 | Followed by: Sir John Terence N. O'Brien |
| Preceded by: Sir Henry Wylie Norman | Governor of Jamaica 1889-1898 | Followed by: Sir Augustus William Lawson Hemming |
| Preceded by: Sir William Robinson | Governor of Hong Kong 1898-1903 | Followed by: Sir Matthew Nathan |
| Preceded by: Joseph West Ridgeway | Governor of Ceylon 1903-1907 | Followed by: Henry Edward McCallum |