Like many family historians, I am particularly
interested in tracing my paternal line, the line of my surname. In spite of over twenty years of research, I
have only been able to trace my Blake ancestors back to a James Blake who lived
in the early nineteenth century.
My earliest record of James Blake is from London land
tax records. These show that in 1807 he was living in Prospect Court, St George
in the East, London. My guess is that
James was of age, 21, in 1807, so he was probably born before 1786. James lived in Prospect Court until around
1810 and then moved to nearby Prospect Place, where he lived until around 1818. There are no land tax records that I can
associate with him after this date.
Prospect Place was near St George’s Town Hall, off
Cable Street. Like much of the East End, the area was bombed in World War II
and the street no longer exists.
I have found a James Blake, son of Richard and Sarah, born
and baptised in St George in the East, in August 1788. He might be a little
young. There were several other James Blakes
baptised in the East End of London in the 1780s.
Around the same time that he moved from Prospect Court
to Prospect Place, James Blake married Elizabeth, a young woman from Somerset. She was probably Elizabeth Flower, born 1791
in Widcombe near Bath. I have not yet
been able to find any record of their wedding.
Their first child, Eliza Blake, died in February 1814 aged about 2 ½
years old which gives a rough idea of when they might have married. Eliza was buried at St George in the East
church. She may have been baptised in St
Pancras old church, although it seems a long way from the East End.
James and Elizabeth had four more children:
- Mary, born 1814 and died 1818
- Elizabeth, born 17 Nov 1815, married a Scot, William Muirhead
- James, my ancestor, born 27 Dec 1817
- Isaac, born 1 May 1820,
Grandson James Jesse Blake, born 1848, mentioned in
his “Diary” that he never knew his grandfather.
Elizabeth remarried, to John Gilbert, probably in 1836. James must have died before then; there are a
number of possible burial records. A
James Blake who was buried in St George in the East in 1832 was probably a
different person, as he had several children baptised in the parish in the
1820’s. Another James Blake was buried
at St Luke’s, Chelsea in 1820, age 34.
The age and date fit, but what would James have been doing on the other
side of London? Was he a former soldier
and Chelsea pensioner who was hospitalised before he died?
So where else might I be able to track James Blake
down? According to his children’s
baptism record, he was a labourer, so looking for apprenticeship records is unlikely
to be helpful. He is said to have been a
mariner on his son James’ marriage certificate.
Son James was a mariner and so possibly following in his father’s footsteps. I recently discovered that there is a Trinity
House Petition for a James Blake aged 22 of Manchester dated 1807. The Corporation of Trinity House distributed
charitable funds to sailors and their families.
The age and timing of the petition fit with what I know about James
Blake and is a lead worth pursuing.
I checked baptism indexes for Manchester and Lancashire. I discovered two things, one is that Blake is
not a Lancashire name; the other is one James Blake, who was baptised in Overton,
Lancaster in 1782, the son of Thomas and Betty.
Again, the age roughly fits but there is nothing to link this James to
mine.
If James Blake was a mariner, it is possible he died
at sea or in port somewhere, or even went missing. I have checked for a will, as sailors often
had them, but haven’t found a likely candidate.
One of my hopes in sharing this bit of family history
is that maybe someone will read it and be able to help me with my research.
Notes on lineage: Me > Dad > John Edward Blake
> James William Blake > James Jesse Blake > James Blake > James Blake
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