(644) Blackburne of Tankardstown House and Rathfarnham Castle

According to Edward Blackburne's memoir of his father, the Blackburnes were established as gentleman farmers or minor gentry in Co. Meath for several generations in the 18th century until in the 1790s the unsettled state of the Irish countryside and the risk of violent insurrection forced Richard Blackburne (c.1745-98), with whom the genealogy below begins, to abandon his house at Great Footstown and move into Dublin for greater security. It was thus at Dublin that his only surviving son, Francis Blackburne (1782-1867), grew up and completed his education. After studying at Trinity College, Dublin and Kings Inns he went to Lincoln's Inn in London and was called to the Irish bar in 1805. He then entered upon a brilliantly successful legal career which culminated in his serving for two brief periods as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. In the 1860s he was offered, but declined, a baronetcy. With the wealth generated by his legal offices, he purchased first, around 1815, the modest Tankardstown estate in County Meath, where he was probably responsible for rebuilding the house, and later, in 1847, Rathfarnham Castle. His main homes, however, were probably always his town houses in Dublin and the suburban villas he owned successively before buying the castle. He was married for fifty-eight years to Jane Martley (d. 1872), and together they had fourteen children, although only five of them survived their long-lived father. These included William Martley Blackburne (1821-68), who inherited Tankardstown, and  Edward Blackburne QC (1823-1902), who inherited Rathfarnham. William, who survived his father by only a few months, bequeathed Tankardstown to his own elder son, Francis William Blackburne (1851-1921), who was educated in England and married the daughter of a Scottish gentry family but settled at Tankardstown, where he was High Sheriff of Co. Meath in 1898-99. He and his wife had one son and three daughters (one of whom died young). The son, William John Anstruther Blackburne (1904-42), was generally known as Jack. He studied agriculture at Cambridge, where the start of his studies seems to have been delayed by his father's death and perhaps also by the Irish civil war, and his obituary commented on his use of modern farming and horticultural methods. He died of cancer in his 30s, and since he was unmarried the Tankardstown estate passed to his two sisters, Elena Townshend (1898-1996) and Amabel Blackburne (1910-96). Elena and her husband Charles Townshend seem to have farmed the estate until 1966, when he died, after which the two sisters carried on until the 1970s when they sold Tankardstown and retired to a smaller house on the estate.

Edward Blackburne (1823-1902), who inherited Rathfarnham Castle from his father, the Lord Chancellor, pursued a legal career like his father and was made a QC in 1868, although he never achieved judicial office. He married the daughter of a Dublin physician, and they produced one son and one daughter. The son was Francis Blackburne (b. 1859), but though he was the heir apparent to Rathfarnham, he seems either to have fallen out with his father or to have had no interest in occupying the position of privilege in society to which he had been born. He was remarkably difficult to trace in contemporary records, but he went first to London, where he was married in 1881 to a woman called Minnie Mulholland, who has proved even more elusive. They then emigrated to the United States, where they had a son in San Francisco in 1883 and a daughter in Springfield, Ohio in 1887 before moving on to Toronto (Canada). At a young age their son, Edward Blackburne (1883-1948), was returned to Ireland, where he was apparently brought up by his grandfather and educated as a gentleman, no doubt with a view to his being the heir to Rathfarnham. The elder Edward died in 1902 and left his widow a life interest in Rathfarnham, which expired on her death in 1911. By then the younger Edward had taken holy orders and was a curate in the east end of London, where his sister kept house for him. Within months of coming into his Irish inheritance he had married, sold the Rathfarnham estate and been instituted as rector of Bolnhurst, a small and remote village in the claylands of north Bedfordshire. He remained there until 1919, but then resigned the living and moved to Sussex. Although he was a licensed preacher in the diocese of Chichester in the 1920s and 1930s he seems never to have held another benefice. He and his wife had three daughters but no sons, and he died in very modest circumstances at Totnes in south Devon in 1948.

Tankardstown House, Co. Meath

The house began as a rectangular house of two storeys, with a three bay front and slightly shorter three-bay sides, built of limestone rubble. It was constructed about 1815, and therefore probably for Francis Blackburne (1782-1867) who bought the heavily mortgaged estate around that time, rather than for the previous owner, Brabazon Morris, although this cannot be certain. The use of rubble stone rather than ashlar gives the house a curiously rustic look, and it seems likely that the exterior was originally stuccoed to give a smoother, more neo-classical impression. The house has a very wide central hall and two staircases at the rear, and the principal reception rooms to either side.

Tankardstown House: the entrance front and side elevation of the original block.

Tankardstown House: the side elevation showing the late 19th century addition and the new entrance then built.

In 1883-86, Francis William Blackburne enlarged the house to the rear to the designs of Sir Thomas Drew. The extension, which consists of an additional block built onto the back of the earlier house and a long wing projecting to its east, included a new front entrance and a large Jacobethan staircase hall. Alterations were made to the layout of the house, so that the original front door became a window, and the Regency interiors were changed by the introduction of coarser and more elaborate classical details. It is said that the original intention was to build a larger extension, but that the plans were simplified during the build. A pair of metalwork gates on the avenue approach are stamped 'Paris 1890'. 

Descent: Brabazon Morris; sold c.1815 to Francis Blackburne (1782-1867); to son, William Martley Blackburne (1821-68); to son, Francis William Blackburne (1851-1921); to son, Jack Blackburne (1904-42); to sisters, Elena Frances (1898-1996), wife of Charles Maurice Waddington Loftus Townshend (1899-1966), and Amabel Blackburne (1910-96), who sold 1970s... sold 2002 to Brian and Patricia Conroy, who since 2008 have operated it as a wedding and events venue.

Rathfarnham Castle, Co. Dublin

An important Elizabethan house in a strategic position close to the bridge by which the main road south from Dublin to the Wicklow mountains crosses the River Dodder. There was a medieval castle here, an outbuilding of which survived and was incorporated into the ground floor of a 20th century residential block, now known as Cromwell's Court. Rathfarnham's significance lies in the fact that it was designed not as a tower house, but as a semi-fortified mansion, demonstrating new (and ill-founded) optimism about the stability of the Elizabethan settlement in Ireland and the security of the countryside. While defencibility was still a significant consideration, for the first time in Ireland, equal or greater weight was given to making the house a pleasant and comfortable place of residence. 

Rathfarnham Castle: a late 19th century view of the house from the south-east.

Rathfarnham was built in 1582-85 for the Most Rev. Adam Loftus (c.1533-1605), a Yorkshireman who became archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, 1581-1605.

Rathfarnham Castle: ground floor plan, as altered in the 18th century.

The house takes the form of a rectangular double pile central block with a tower at each corner, a form familiar in England in houses such as Mount Edgcumbe (Cornwall); but whereas at Mount Edgcumbe the towers are square, at Rathfarnham they are bastion-shaped, and the towers are battered at the base and offset at each storey, allowing greater visibility for defenders of any attacking force. Later alterations to the fenestration and interiors make it difficult to know what Adam Loftus's Rathfarnham would have been like to live in, but the floor levels and materials tell us quite a lot. The basement is vaulted throughout, and the main entrance (now an 18th century doorway but thought to be in the original position) is to the ground floor above, and is approached by an external stair. This floor was 12 feet high internally, but the first floor was much taller, so we can assume that this was where the principal 16th century rooms were; the top floor is treated as an attic and no doubt housed servants' accommodation. The spine wall down the centre of the main block is a massive structure, some twelve feet thick.

The castle changed hands several times during the Irish Confederate Wars (1641-53), but seems to have remained habitable throughout. In the 1690s it passed by marriage from the Loftus family to the Whartons, and in 1723 was sold by the 1st Duke of Wharton (who had incurred massive losses in the South Sea Bubble) to William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish Parliament and the builder of Castletown House (Co. Kildare). Conolly spent £62,000 on his purchase but seems to have been more interested in the land than the house, of which he granted a long lease to Edward Worth (1672-1741). Worth was said in 1733 to be 'prodigious fond of the place and is continually improving it", although his activities are surely too early for the rich Rococo ceilings in the house. After Worth died, the lease was sold in 1742 to Archbishop John Hoadly, who was translated from Dublin to Armagh in the year he acquired Rathfarnham. In the four years he owned the house, his obituarist recorded him making 'repairs' to Rathfarnham, but could he have accomplished the extensive works that seem to form the first phase of internal remodelling in such a short period? Hoadly died in 1746 and the lease passed to his son-in-law, Bellingham Boyle MP (1709-71), an MP who suffered repeatedly from financial troubles. Nonetheless, he seems the most likely person to have commissioned the first phase of internal remodelling of the house. 

Rathfarnham Castle: Rococo ceiling of the library (later drawing room) behind the bow on the east front.

This produced a series of rich Rococo plasterwork ceilings with contrastingly plain classical doorcases and window frames. His work may also have involved taking the kitchens out of the basement and relocating them in a new wing to the south-west, building a new staircase in the north-west tower, and the construction of the bowed projection on the east front, which disturbs the symmetry of the house but provdes a particularly handsome bow-ended library on the ground floor. Other surviving Rococo ceilings from this phase of work include that of the passage through the central spine wall from the entrance hall to the long gallery, and a room on the first floor of the south front.

Rathfarnham Castle: ceiling attributed to Athenian Stuart in the first-floor Breakfast Room.

Rathfarnham Castle: the saloon/gallery in the late 19th century.

In 1763, Boyle sold his lease to Sir Lawrence Dundas, and it seems likely that he continued the remodelling of the house, turning to James 'Athenian' Stuart as his architect. In 1769, Lady Shelburne mentioned that some of the interiors were being decorated after designs by Mr. Stuart, and on stylistic grounds these have been identified as the ground-floor Gallery (formerly with inset paintings by Angelica Kauffman) and the Breakfast Room and Gilt Room on the first floor of the south front. The date of Lady Shelburne's comment implies that the work was still in progress when the lease of Rathfarnham was sold in 1767 to Nicholas Home-Loftus, 2nd Earl of Ely, who was a descendant of the original builder, Archbishop Loftus. He died at the age of 31 two years later, and the house passed to his uncle, Henry Loftus (1709-83), 7th Viscount and later 1st Earl of Ely of a new creation. Henry seems at once to have put in hand further alterations to the house, on which he consulted Sir William Chambers, but the main interiors seem to have pre-dated his involvement and his hand is only identifiable in the picture gallery and some more minor spaces. 

Rathfarnham Castle: picture gallery, decorated by Sir William Chambers. Image: David Davison

Rathfarnham Castle: the architect of the entrance hall is unknown, but is unlikely to be Chambers, who was well known for opposing the use of baseless Doric columns, and who is unlikely to have designed such a top-heavy doorcase!

Rathfarnham Castle: the house from the south-east, drawn by Gabriel Beringer in 1774.

Rathfarnham Castle: view of the park in 1794 by George Holmes
[Glin Castle Collection]

Rathfarnham Castle: entrance front and park in 1794
from a view by George Holmes. [Glin Castle Collection]

The woodland of the demesne was praised in a letter of 1699 and the grounds had evidently been laid out - presumably for Edward Worth - by 1734, when Lady Anne Conolly described Rathfarnham as having the best garden she had seen in Ireland, with a 'pritty garden' and 'a vastly well-wooded park with a racing water going thro' it, besides a great many fine fishponds' and the largest carp she had ever seen. By 1774, when the house was depicted by Beringer, the surroundings had been landscaped in the Brownian manner, and over the next quarter of a century the grounds were ornamented by Lord Ely and his nephew, later the 1st Marquess of Ely, with a temple consisting of a circular tower surrounded by a Doric colonnade (demolished in 1979), a rather plain Gothick gate of 1790 at the village entrance to the park (demolished in the 20th century), a greenhouse, aviary and serpentine streams. The one surviving structure is a fine triumphal arch entrance gate to the demesne, now known as Ely's Arch. This has been plausibly attributed by Dean to Francis Johnston and dated to c.1802, but there is said to be map evidence for its existence by 1779; perhaps there was an earlier structure on the same site. 

Rathfarnham Castle: the Ely Gate, attributed to Francis Johnston and said to have been built c.1802.

In the early 19th century the Loftus family moved to Loftus Hall (Co. Wicklow) and Rathfarnham was leased to a dairy farmer and fell into disrepair. By 1837 it was threatened with demolition, and there were plans to divide the demesne into small plots for the building of suburban villas. This was averted when the estate was purchased by Francis Blackburne, who like Adam Loftus was Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He and his son occupied the house, but in 1912 the estate was sold to a firm of property developers who divided the estate up, selling the eastern part for development as a golf course, developing the north-west section for housing, and selling the castle and south-west part of the grounds to the Society of Jesus, which also bought some of the house contents at auction. In 1913, the Jesuits carried out some additions and alterations, including creating a chapel within the house, to the designs of Charles B. Powell, but seem to have made few other significant alterations to the fabric in the seventy years they occupied the house. In 1986 they sold the estate to another development company, and the house was once again threatened with demolition. A vociferous public campaign led to the purchase of the house and its immediate environs by the Irish Government, which declared it to be a National Monument and vested it in the Office of Public Works, which has undertaken a major restoration work on the building, although there is still more to be done.

Descent: built for Most Rev. Adam Loftus (c.1533-1605); to son, Sir Dudley Loftus (1561-1616), kt.; to son, Sir Adam Loftus (d. c.1659), kt.; to younger son, Dr Dudley Loftus (1619-95); to great-niece, Lucy, wife of Thomas Wharton (1648-1715), 1st Marquess of Wharton; to son, Philip Wharton (1698-1731), 1st Duke of Wharton, who sold 1723 to William Conolly (1662-1729). After the granting of a long lease to Edward Worth (1672-1741) the only interest of subsequent landlords was in a small ground rent, and it was the leaseholders who were the active owners. The lease passed from Edward Worth to the Most Rev. John Hoadly (1678-1746), archbishop of Dublin and later of Armagh, and then to his son-in-law, Bellingham Boyle (1709-71); sold 1767 to Nicholas Home-Loftus (1738-69), 2nd Earl of Ely; to uncle, Hon. Henry Loftus (1709-83), 7th Viscount and later 1st Earl of Ely; to nephew, Charles Tottenham (later Loftus) (1738-1806), 1st Marquess of Ely; to son, John Loftus (1770-1845), 2nd Marquess of Ely, who sub-let the house from 1812; sold 1847 to Rt. Hon. Francis Blackburne (1782-1867); to son, Edward Blackburne (1823-1902); to widow (d. 1911) for life and then to grandson, Rev. Edward Blackburne (1883-1948), who sold 1912 to Bailey & Gibson; sold 1913 to Society of Jesus; sold 1985 to Delaware Properties; sold 1987 to Irish Government and declared a National Monument. 

Blackburne family of Rathfarnham Castle and Tankardstown House

Blackburne, Richard (c.1745-98). Eldest son of George Blackburne (d. 1769) and his wife Mary, born about 1745. Farmer and landowner. He married, 1774 (licence 10 June), Elizabeth (d. 1826), daughter of Francis Hopkins of Darvistown (Co. Meath), and had issue:

(1) Jane Blackburne (c.1775-1860), born about 1775; married, 1803 (licence 30 March), William Webb (c.1771-1845), deputy Commissary General and author of a travel book about a journey down the River Rhine and a stay in Switzerland and Italy (1827); died 25 April 1860;

(2) Elizabeth Blackburne (c.1777-1863), born about 1777; died unmarried 29 August 1863 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery;

(3) George Blackburne; died in infancy;

(4) Rt. Hon. Francis Blackburne (1782-1867) (q.v.);

(5) Anna Maria Blackburne (c.1792-1865), born about 1792; died unmarried, 10 September 1865 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery; administration of goods granted 14 October 1865 (effects under £450).

He lived at Great Footstown (Co. Meath) until the 1790s, when he was forced by popular unrest in the countryside to flee to Dublin; the house at Footstown being abandoned thereafter.

He died in 1798. His widow died at Dundrum in September 1826.

Rt. Hon. Francis Blackburne (1782-1867) 

Blackburne, Rt. Hon. Francis (1782-1867). Only son of Richard Blackburne (c.1745-98) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Hopkins of Darvistown (Co. Meath), born 11 November 1782. Educated at private schools in Dunshaughlin and Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1798; BA 1803; LLB and LLD, 1852), King's Inns (admitted 1801; called 1805) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1803). In 1803 he inherited the law library of his uncle, Anthony Blackburne. He was a barrister-at-law (KC, 1822); Serjeant-at-Law, 1826-31; Attorney General of Ireland, 1831-35, 1841-42; Master of the Rolls in Ireland, 1842-46; Lord Chief Justice, 1846-52; Lord High Chancellor, 1851-52, 1866-67; Lord Justice of Appeal, 1856-66; Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, 1851-67 and a Commissioner of National Education in Ireland, 1852-53, resigning from the latter post because of the watering down of Protestant religious content in the national syllabus. He was a Tory in politics, but this did not prevent his career from progressing when the Whigs were in power, and it was the Whigs who appointed him Attorney General and made him a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1821. He was a member of the Royal Dublin Society and a supporter of the Antient Concert Rooms, Dublin. He was short and stout and had an inexpressive face but was noted for his melodious singing voice. In 1867 he was offered a baronetcy by Lord Derby, but declined the honour. He married, between 31 August (licence) and 5 September (newspaper report) 1809, Jane (d. 1872), daughter of William Martley of Ballyfallen (Co. Meath), and had issue fourteen children, including:

(1) Elizabeth Frances Blackburne (d. 1825), eldest daughter; died at Roebuck Hall, 21 August 1825;

(2) Richard Francis Blackburne (d. 1821); died at Willowmount, Rathfarnham, November 1821;

(3) Alice Catherine Blackburne (c.1819-85); married, 23 June 1842 at St Peter, Dublin, Capt. George Daniell RN (1797-1856), and had issue one son; died at Kingstown (Co. Dublin), 3 March 1885;

(4) Jane Isabella Blackburne (c.1820-1902), born about 1820; married, 25 October 1845 at Taney (Co. Dublin), Thomas Rice Henn QC (1814-1901) of Paradise Hill (Co. Clare), and had issue seven sons and two daughters; died 29 April 1902 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery;

(5) William Martley Blackburne (1821-68) (q.v.);

(6) Francis Blackburne (1822-63), baptised at St Peter, Dublin, 30 July 1822; died unmarried, 14 February 1863;

(7) Edward Blackburne (1823-1902) (q.v.);

(8) A son (b. & d. 1825), born January 1825 but died in infancy;

(9) Elizabeth Mary Blackburne (1826-63), born at Roebuck Hall, 4 August, and baptised at Taney, 7 September 1826; married, 13 October 1853 at Rathfarnham, Edward Perceval Westby (c.1828-93) of Roebuck Castle (Co. Dublin) (who m2, 16 June 1864 at Taney, Susan Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Davis Garde of Mount Dillon), only son of Nicholas Westby, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died at Roebuck Castle, 2 May 1863;

(10) Frederick John Blackburne (1827-63), born 1827; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1844; BA 1848); JP for Co. Cork?; lived at Renny House (Co. Cork) and Keymer (Sussex); married, 3 July 1856 at Hove (Sussex), Annette (1836-1921), daughter of Eardley Hall of Wilmington (Sussex), and had issue one son; died 4 October 1863; will proved 6 November 1863 (effects under £1,500);

(11) John Henry Blackburne (1830-91), born 9 November 1830; an officer in the Royal Artillery (2nd Lt., 1850; Lt., 1853; Capt., 1856; retired 1859); married, 20 August 1857 at St Lawrence-in-Thanet (Kent), Elizabeth Susanna (1833-1931), second daughter of Anthony Crofton of Lincoln's Inn, barrister-at-law; died at Wells (Som.), 15 May 1891; will proved 9 September 1891 (effects £15,382);

(12) Adelaide Frances Blackburne (b. 1833), born in Dublin, 26 June 1833 and baptised at Taney, 28 July 1833; probably died young;

(13) Arthur Blackburne (1835-67), born 22 February 1835; educated at St Columba's College; died unmarried at Corderry (Co. Louth), 31 May 1867 and was buried at Rathfarnham, although his remains were later removed to Mount Jerome Cemetery; administration of goods granted 13 July 1867 (effects under £800).

He purchased Tankardstown House in about 1815 and Rathfarnham Castle in 1847. He lived at a house called Willow Mount in Rathfarnham (sold 1825) and later at Roebuck Hall, Clonskeagh (Co. Dublin) until he acquired Rathfarnham Castle. He also had town houses in Leinster Sq. and later in Merrion Sq., Dublin.

He died 17 September 1867 and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin; his will was proved 11 October 1867 (effects under £80,000). His widow died in Monkstown (Co. Dublin), 27 September 1872, and was also buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery; her will was proved 8 November 1872 (effects under £8,000).

Blackburne, William Martley (1821-68). Eldest surviving son of Rt. Hon. Francis Blackburne (1782-1867) and his wife Jane, daughter of James Martley MD, born 1821. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1838; BA 1842). He married, 12 January 1847 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Mary (1823-89), daughter of Rev. Dr. William Thorpe DD, and had issue:

(1) Francis William Blackburne (1851-1921) (q.v.);

(2) Eva Amabel Blackburne (1857-1909), baptised at St Peter, Dublin, 21 December 1857; married, 14 July 1890 at St John, Notting Hill, Charles Currell Eyre (1862-1943), transport agent at Florence (Italy), son of Mahlon Dickenson Eyre, an American banker of Florence (Italy), but had no issue; died 15 June 1909 and was buried at Slane (Co. Meath);

(3) Augustus Edward William Blackburne (1860-93); merchant; married, 24 June 1891 at St John, Notting Hill (Middx), Isabella Olive (1863-1944), daughter of Mahlon Dickenson Eyre (1821-82) of Florence (Italy), and had issue one son; died in Naples (Italy), February 1893.

He inherited Tankardstown House from his father in 1867.

He died 8 May 1868 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin; his will was proved 8 July 1868 (effects under £3,000). His widow married 2nd, 10 December 1869 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx), George Thompson Lefroy (d. 1890) of Carriglas Manor (Co. Longford), son of Rt. Hon. Thomas Lefroy, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and died at Farvis (Austria), 5 September 1889; her will was proved in Dublin, 13 January 1890 (effects £2,044?).

Blackburne, Francis William (1851-1921). Elder son of William Martley Blackburne (1821-68) and his wife Mary, daughter of Rev. Dr. William Thorpe DD, born 7 March 1851. Educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1870; BA 1874). JP for Co. Meath; High Sheriff of Co. Meath, 1898-99. He married, 9 December 1895 at Edinburgh Cathedral, Olive Beatrice Louisa (1870-1941), third and youngest daughter of John Anstruther-Thomson of Charleton (Fife), and had issue:

(1) Mary Elizabeth Rosia St. Clair Blackburne (1897-1904), born 18 March 1897; died young, 20 January 1904 and was buried at Slane (Co. Meath);

(2) Elena Frances Margaret Anne Blackburne (1898-1996), born 29 August 1898; married, 22 March 1928 at St Paul, Onslow Sq., Kensington (Middx), Charles Maurice Waddington Loftus Townshend (1899-1966) of Slane, third son of Charles Loftus Uniacke Townshend of Hill House, Reigate (Surrey), and had issue two sons; died aged 97 on 10 April 1996 and was buried at Slane;

(3) William John Anstruther (k/a Jack) Blackburne (1904-42) (q.v.);

(4) Amabel Clementina Olive Georgina Blackburne (1910-96), born 3 May 1910; teacher; died unmarried, 1996.

He inherited Tankardstown House from his father in 1868 and came of age in 1872.

He died 11 July 1921 and was buried at Slane (Co. Meath). His widow died 17 November 1941 and was buried with her husband at Slane; her will was proved 21 April 1942 (estate in England £1,079).

Blackburne, William John Anstruther (k/a Jack) (1904-42). Only son of Francis William Blackburne (1851-1921) and his wife Olive Beatrice Louisa, youngest daughter of John Anstruther Thomson of Charleston (Fife), born 30 November 1904. Educated at Castle Park School and Pembroke College, Cambridge (matriculated 1923; BA 1926), where he studied agriculture and horticulture. Farmer and horticulturalist at Tankardstown, where he was noted for his advanced methods. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Tankardstown House from his father in 1921. At his death it passed to his two surviving sisters, who sold it in the 1970s.

He died of cancer, 1 June 1942; administration of his goods was granted to his younger sister, 16 July 1942 (estate £15,402).

Blackburne, Edward (1823-1902). Fourth son of Rt. Hon. Francis Blackburne (1782-1867) and his wife Jane, daughter of James Martley MD, born 13 November 1823. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1840; BA 1845; LLB and LLD, 1875) and King's Inns, Dublin (admitted 1842; called 1845). Barrister-at-law (QC 1868); JP for Co. Dublin. He wrote a biography of his father, published as The Life of the Right Hon. Francis Blackburne (1874). He married, 25 August 1857 at Monkstown (Co. Dublin), Georgiana Arabella (1837-1911), eldest daughter of Robert James Graves MD of Dublin and Cloghan Castle (Co. Offaly), and had issue:

(1) Francis Blackburne (b. 1859) (q.v.); 

(2) Georgiana Beatrice Blackburne (1861-1936), baptised at St Stephen, Dublin, 17 May 1861; married, 5 June 1890 at Rathfarnham, Rev. Henry Richard William Farrer (1860-1933), vicar of Bridport (Dorset) and canon of Salisbury Cathedral, only son of Capt. R.H. Farrer, and had issue three sons; died 26 August 1936 and was buried at Bridport (Dorset).

He inherited Rathfarnham Castle from his father in 1867. At his death it passed to his widow for life.

He died 7 December 1902 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin; his will was proved 16 February 1903 (estate £52,457). His widow died 18 January 1911 and was also buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery; her will was proved 5 May 1911 (estate £58,092).

Blackburne, Francis (b. 1859). Only son of Edward Blackburne (1823-1902) and his wife Georgiana Arabella, eldest daughter of Robert James Graves MD of Dublin and Cloghan Castle (Co. Offaly), born 9 February 1859. He emigrated to the United States and later lived in Toronto (Canada); his occupation is given in one census return as 'machinist'. There is no evidence that he returned to Ireland or England later in his life, and he presumably died in Canada or the USA, but his death has not been traced. He married, Jul-Sept 1881 in Fulham (Middx), Minnie Mulholland, and had issue:

(1) Rev. Edward Blackburne (1883-1948), born in San Francisco, California (USA), 28 May 1883; educated at St Columba's College, Rathfarnham, Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1908), and Wells Theological College (admitted 1908); ordained deacon, 1909, and priest, 1910; inherited Rathfarnham Castle on his grandmother's death in 1911 but sold it in 1912; rector of Bolnhurst (Beds), 1913-19, after which he appears to have retired from active ministry, although he was licensed to preach in the diocese of Chichester; married, 14 February 1912 at Carrignavar (Cork), Geraldine Fitzgerald (1885-1964), daughter of Lt-Col. F.F. MacCartie of Carrignavar, and had issue three daughters; died at Totnes (Devon), 27 July 1948; will proved 18 July 1949 (estate £524);

(2) Frances Evelyn Blackburne (1887-1958), born at Springfield, Ohio (USA), 11 July 1887; acted for a time as housekeeper to her brother before his marriage; probably the woman of this name who died unmarried at Hove (Sussex), 28 February 1958; will proved 9 June 1958 (estate £8,125).

His date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, vol. 2, supplement p. 28; Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland, 1958, pp. 701-02; J. Harris, Sir William Chambers, 1970, pp. 241-42; E. McParland, 'Rathfarnham Castle, Co. Dublin', Country Life, 9 September 1982, pp. 734-37; K. Bristol, 'Rathfarnham Castle in the architectural oeuvre of James 'Athenian' Stuart: a question of patronage', in M.J. McCarthy, Lord Charlemont and his circle, 2001, pp. 113-22; Sir H.M. Colvin, A biographical dictionary of British architects, 4th edn., 2008, pp. 243-44, 1002; J.A.K. Dean, The gate lodges of Leinster, 2016, pp. 143-45;

https://www.youwho.ie/blackburne.html.

Location of archives

Blackburne of Tankardstown: deeds, legal and estate papers and correspondence, c.1821-1908 [National Library of Ireland]

Coat of arms

None recorded

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide additional information about the ownership of Tankardstown between the 1970s and 2002?
• Can anyone supply information about the later years and death of Francis Blackburne (b. 1859) or his wife Minnie?
• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 13 September 2026.

(643) Blackburne of Orford Hall and Hale Hall

Blackburne of Hale and Orford

This family, which claimed to have roots in north-west Yorkshire in the 15th and 16th centuries, was part of an extensive clan of recusants in Lancashire which owned land at Great Eccleston, Stockenbridge, Thistleton, Scorton Hall near Garstang; Newton-le-Willows (alias Newton-in-Makerfield), Eccleston, Bridge End, Blackley Hurst, Goosnargh, Bleasdale and Orford Hall, Warrington. The immediate ancestor of this branch was William Blackburne (d. c.1616) of Thistleton (Lancs), who is said to have been in partnership with his brother Richard as Russia merchants. The profits of this business enabled him to purchase additional lands including Newton Hall at Newton-le-Willows. The genealogy below begins with one of William's younger sons, Richard Blackburne (c.1570-1641), who farmed first at Scorton Hall and later at Newton Hall. He and most of his children seemed to have adhered to the Roman Catholic church, and the house of his second son, Richard Blackburne (fl. 1662), called The Hill at Goosnargh, was given much later to the Franciscans as a presbytery for the use of priests serving the nearby Roman Catholic chapel. The one exception to the recusant tradition was Richard's third son, Thomas Blackburne (1605-63), who inherited Newton Hall from his father. He seems to have been wealthier than his landholding alone could account for, and it seems possible that he also traded as a cloth merchant. At all events, by 1637 he was in a position to purchase Orford Hall near Warrington, marking the family's transition to the landed gentry. Here he raised an exceptionally large family of sixteen children, born over a period of thirty years after his marriage in 1626 to Margaret Norris, who came from a junior branch of the Norris family of Speke Hall (Lancs). He conformed to the Church of England and managed to avoid overt support for the Royalists in the Civil War, for his property was not sequestrated by the Parliamentary authorities. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas Blackburne (1633-70), who died unmarried just seven years later. 

The younger Thomas was succeeded by his next surviving brother, Jonathan Blackburne (1646-1725), who was evidently of an entrepreneurial disposition. In 1696 he and his brother John built a salt works at Liverpool at which rock salt from Cheshire could be refined in salt pans, and from whence it could be exported from the nearby docks; it was the foundation of a successful and growing business which lasted for more than 150 years. Like his father, Jonathan conformed to the Church of England and he was thus able to become High Sheriff of Lancashire for the year 1715-16. Perhaps to mark this, Jonathan remodelled the house at Orford Hall, giving it sash windows and a fashionable new front. Jonathan married twice, having four daughters by his first wife and three sons by his second, but his only son to survive was the long-lived John Blackburne (1694-1786), who succeeded his father at Orford Hall and in the saltworks in 1725. John had received a traditional gentleman's education, studying at Oxford and the Middle Temple, and was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1743-44, but he continued his father's business activities, buying the Dungeon Salt Works at Hale (Lancs) in 1746, and investing in at least sixteen slaving voyages from Liverpool in the 1740s and 1750s. He also developed an interest in botany and the cultivation of exotic plants, which was no doubt facilitated by his engagement in the triangular trade between Liverpool, Africa and the Americas.

The Blackburne family portrait by Hamlet Winstanley, 1741.

He became celebrated for the hothouses at Orford Hall, where he grew pineapples, bananas and tropical ferns, and he passed on his interest to his daughter Anne (1726-93), who was a correspondent of Linnaeus and a friend of Thomas Pennant. She also began a museum of exotic birds from the Americas, many of them being specimens supplied by her brother Ashton Blackburne (1728-c.1780), who emigrated to New England in the 1760s. After the death of his wife, John commissioned a local artist, Hamlet Winstanley, to make both a portrait of himself (now in Warrington Museum and Art Gallery) and a large group portrait of his whole family, which hung on the stairs at Orford; where is it now?

The profits of John Blackburne's trading activities allowed him to purchase the manor of Warrington in 1769, a year after the death of his eldest son and heir apparent, Thomas Blackburne (1720-68). Thomas, who had been educated at Oxford and had undertaken a grand tour of Italy, married Ireland Green (1728-95), one of the co-heirs of her father, Isaac Green (1678-1749). Around the time of their marriage, Ireland had agreed a partition of the Green estates with her sisters, as a result of which she inherited Hale Hall (Lancs), on the north bank of the river Mersey, a few miles above Liverpool and close to the Dungeon Salt Works. Although Thomas died comparatively young, and well within his father's lifetime, he left three sons and a daughter, and it was his eldest son, John Blackburne (1754-1833), who became heir to his grandfather at Orford Hall when the latter died in 1786. He also succeeded his mother in Hale Hall in 1795, and thereafter Hale became the family's principal seat, and Orford Hall was generally let. John, who was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1781-82, was first elected as MP for the county in 1784, and served in that role continuously until 1830, although his increasing eccentricity and neglect of constituency affairs in his later years became something of an embarrassment to his friends. His salt works at Liverpool having become a public nuisance to the expanding city, in 1793 he purchased the manor of Garston - between Liverpool and Hale - and built a larger new salt works there, as well as a dock from which the salt could be exported. His marriage to the daughter of a Somerset gentleman was blessed with three sons and four daughters, and his two younger sons - who both became clergymen - and two elder daughters all married well. 

John's eldest son and heir was John Ireland Blackburne (1783-1874), who played an active part in the local volunteer movement during the Napoleonic wars and then followed his father into parliament, sitting as MP for the Lancashire borough of Newton, 1807-18, and returning to parliament as MP for Warrington, 1835-47. From his father he inherited Hale Hall and Orford Hall, as well as the salt refining business, which he operated in conjunction with his brother-in-law, Edwin Corbett, and later alone. In 1867 he sold the site to the London & North-Western Railway, which cleared it in order to construct the Stalbridge Docks. John Ireland Blackburne

married his first cousin, Anne Bamford (c.1791-1861), who gave him a son and also five daughters, all but one of whom died young or unmarried. His son was another John Ireland Blackburne (1817-93), who went into the army after leaving Eton and served with the 5th Dragoon Guards until he retired in 1849. Soon afterwards, he joined the newly-reconstituted 4th Royal Lancashire Militia, rising to become its commanding officer from 1853-74. He then turned his attention to politics, and sat as Conservative MP for South-West Lancashire, 1875-85. The younger John Ireland Blackburne was married in 1846 to Mary (1825-55), daughter of Sir Henry Bold Hoghton, 8th bt., of Hoghton Tower (Lancs), who gave him a son and four daughters. The couple lived at Light Oaks, Cheadle (Staffs) as the elder John Ireland Blackburne was still living at Hale. Two years after Mary died he married again, this time to the widowed Viscountess Hereford, but there were no further children and the Dowager Lady Hereford (as she continued to be known) died in 1870.

John Ireland Blackburne's only son was Robert Ireland Blackburne (1850-1930), and from this generation the family surname was often given as Ireland Blackburne, with or without a hyphen, although this was not done consistently or by all members of the family, and there does not seem to have been any legal basis for the change. After education at Eton and Cambridge, Robert joined the army and rose to command the 3rd battalion of the South Lancs Regiment, retiring in 1903. He was married with two sons and a daughter, and moved into Hale Hall following his father's death. Outwardly, very little seemed to have changed; Robert continued to be the squire of the village, although all around it the industry and housing of the Liverpool conurbation was steadily swallowing more of the rural Lancashire countryside. Orford Hall, beset by a railway and a slaughterhouse, and with the trees in the park killed by atmospheric pollution, was scarcely a gentleman's residence any more, and after the death of the tenant, William Beamont, mayor of Warrington and author of a history of Hale and Orford, there were periods when it was not occupied at all. Moreover, the agricultural depression and trends in capital and income taxation were steadily eroding Robert's ability to support two country houses and a leisured way of life. In 1916 he was persuaded to sell Orford Hall and eighteen acres of land (the rest of the estate was sold a little later) at a low valuation to a consortium of local men for presentation to Warrington Borough Council. The idea was that the estate should be a memorial to those local men killed in the First World War, and the grounds opened to the public as a park in 1917, but no use was ever found for the house, which slipped into neglect and decay, and was pulled down in 1935. The sale of Orford Hall was perhaps not such a blow as it had been let since the early 19th century, but in 1924 financial considerations obliged Robert to give up living at Hale Hall. The house was shut up (no attempt seems to have been made to find a tenant) and inevitably began to deteriorate, while Robert divided his declining years between a service flat in London and the south of France. When he died in 1930 the estate descended to his son, Cecil Gilbert Charles Montagu Ireland Blackburne (1887-1963) who could not afford to live in the house either, and found it riddled with dry rot. In 1937 he simultaneously held a demolition sale and pulled most of the house down, and sold the estate to Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh (1905-85), who seems quickly to have determined that he could not make anything desirable out of the remains of the old house and instead developed the very handsome former vicarage as a new centre for the estate, which he renamed Hale Manor House. The last remains of the old Hale Hall were finally pulled down as recently as 1984.

Orford Hall, Warrington, Lancashire

The original semi-timbered and thatched house of the Norris family is said to have been rebuilt in the Jacobean manner for Sir Thomas Tyldesley (d. 1635), but no visual record of the building is known to exist. It was probably altered in the late 17th century for Jonathan Blackburne, as 19th century descriptions record blind mullioned and cross-windows in the west side elevation, left unaltered when the real windows in the same elevation were replaced by sashes. 

Orford Hall, Warrington: the entrance front of 1716 as first built, from Beamont, Hale Hall, 1881

Orford Hall, Warrington: the entrance front after the addition of the porch-conservatory in the late 19th century. Historic England BB88/7149. 
Image: J. Darwin

A further remodelling took place in about 1716, when a new three-storey main front of seven bays was built. This had a central three-bay breakfront supporting a pediment and a fine central doorcase, the carved pediment of which incorporated the 1716 date, but which was altered in the 19th century when a small porch-conservatory was built across the front entrance. The interiors are poorly recorded, but included a new entrance hall and main staircase of this time. In 1833 the rooms were listed as an entrance hall, dining room, drawing room and ante room, sitting room, library, thirteen main bedrooms and service accommodation. Further changes were made to the exterior in the late 18th century, when a single-storey wing was added to the north-east corner of the house. This may have been intended as a ballroom, as it had exceptionally tall windows, the central one incorporating a doorway and being framed with attenuated columns under a super-arch.

Orford Hall, Warrington: front and side elevations, showing the single-storey addition at the north-east corner. Image: Matthew Beckett/Lost Heritage.

Orford Hall, Warrington: the site of the house from the 1st edn 6" Ordnance Survey map, 1847.

The house was let from the early 19th century onwards, and its setting was gradually compromised, most notably by the construction of the 'Cheshire Lines Railway', opened in 1877, which sliced across the park to the south-east of the house; and by the construction of a slaughterhouse, tallow refinery and tannery to the west. The grounds, which were only ever small, were still well-wooded in 1847, but over time the trees were killed by heavy air pollution and many of them were felled in 1878. By the early 20th century, the house had passed into institutional use as the home of Warrington Training College (later one of the constituent bodies of Liverpool Hope University), but the college had moved out by 1916, when Robert Ireland Blackburne was persuaded to give the house and 18 acres of the grounds to Warrington Borough Council as a war memorial. The grounds were opened to the public as a park in 1917 and later enlarged, but post-war austerity led to neglect of the fabric of the house, for which no public use was found, and after it had been extensively vandalised, it was pulled down in 1935. The area immediately around the former house site remains an open space today, but much of the adjoining land has been developed for housing and for a large (and very ugly) multi-sports complex known as the Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub.

Descent: Thomas Norris (d. 1595); to daughter Anne, wife of Sir Thomas Tyldesley (d. 1635), kt., who sold 1631 to Roger Charnocke of Grays Inn, London; sold to Thomas Blackburne (d. 1663); to son, Thomas Blackburne (d. 1670); to brother, Jonathan Blackburne (1646-1725); to son, John Blackburne (1693-1786); to grandson, John Blackburne (1754-1833); to son, John Ireland Blackburne (1783-1874); to son, John Ireland Blackburne (1817-93); to son, Robert Ireland Blackburne (1850-1930), who in 1916 sold the hall and park on generous terms to a group of benefactors who presented it to Warrington Borough Council, which neglected the house and demolished it in 1935. The hall was let from about 1812 to Lucy Hornby (1750-1833) and her daughters (who sub-let it from 1834-42 to Miss Rigg and Miss Fishwick as a school for young ladies); later tenants included J. Litton and William Beamont (1797-1889), antiquarian and first mayor of Warrington and his widow, Letitia Beamont.

Hale Hall, Lancashire

A highly unusual house with a fairly complex history, which seems not to have been explored very thoroughly before it was demolished; an archaeological investigation of the site might still be informative. The estate stands on the banks of the River Mersey close to the point where the river broadens dramatically to form an estuary a couple of miles wide, and where there stood a fording point, which was dangerous but the lowest crossing of the river until modern times. The first house on the site seems to have been built in the early 17th century as a replacement for, or perhaps a dower house to, the previous family seat of Hutte, a moated 14th century house which stood further from the river on the boundary between Hale and Halewood townships. The Jacobean hall seems to have been a fairly conventional building, built around a small courtyard, with a north-facing entrance front of five irregularly-spaced projecting two-storey bay windows under gables; there was probably also a porch or porch-tower placed off-centre towards the right-hand end of the front.

Hale Hall: an 18th century view of the north front by George Cuitt

Gilbert Ireland (1624-75), who had been a Parliamentary commander in the Civil War but who had a timely change of allegiance on the eve of the Restoration and was knighted in 1660, was noted for his 'unbounded hospitality' (particularly at election time!). Although financially somewhat embarrassed by his expenditure on elections, he undertook a remodelling of Hale Hall in 1671-74. It seems likely he was careful to minimise his costs in this exercise, and the extraordinary nature of what was done may suggest that he was his own architect. To give the house a more fashionable profile, he removed the gables from the north front and carried up the front walls of the bay windows to form a panelled parapet, inserting arches to support the parapet between the earlier bays. Little is known about the changes he made inside, but he created a new deal-panelled room on the south side of the internal courtyard which was offered for sale in 1925. This is supposed to be one of the earliest examples in the country of deal being used for wainscotting, and no doubt employed Baltic timber imported through Liverpool. The panelling bore the date 1671 and the initials of Ireland and his wife, while on the entrance porch tower he erected a stone tablet with the inscription "Built by Sir Gilbert Ireland, Knt, and Dame Margt, A[nn]o D[omin]i 1674". The panelled room was sold to a London dealership, which offered it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but it is not certain that it was exported and its current whereabouts are unknown.

Hale Hall: the deal panelled room of 1671 photographed in situ in 1925.

During the third quarter of the 18th century the Hale estate passed by marriage to Thomas Blackburne (1720-68), and he undertook the landscaping of the grounds in the prevailing manner of Capability Brown, probably to the designs of Francis Richardson, whose plan of 1758 for forming a park from farmland survives. 

Hale Hall: the south front added by John Nash in 1806, which was designed to echo the features of the older north front.
Image: Victoria County History of Lancashire.

John Blackburne (1754-1833), the next owner, enlarged the house to the south to the designs of John Nash in 1806, probably taking advantage of the fact that Nash was working nearby to build Childwall Hall for his cousin, Bamber Gascoyne (1757-1824) at the same time. Whereas Childwall was one of the castle-style mansions which Nash designed across England and Ireland at this time, his work at Hale was required to echo the design of the 17th century north front while providing a new drawing room and dining room (both 36 x 22 feet) and a museum for Blackburne's collection of medals and natural history specimens. The elevation which resulted was of two storeys, with broad canted bays at either end and three bays in between them, separated by deep arch-topped slots recalling the arched recesses on the north front. A panelled parapet made a further connection between the two elevations, and decorative panels - like those below the parapet on the north side - were inserted between the ground and first floors on the south side.

Hale Hall: the layout of the house and landscaped grounds from the 1st edn. 6" Ordnance Survey map, 1848.

In 1876, a new lodge was built at the entrance to the park in a style which reflects the influence of Norman Shaw, and shows that even at this date there was still confidence in the future of the estate, but a combination of agricultural depression and progressive taxation slowly reduced the viability of the estate. Hale Hall remained the seat of the Blackburne family until about 1924, when Col. Robert Ireland Blackburne found the income from the estate inadequate to fund the cost of maintaining and running the house and shut it up. He continued to maintain the house and grounds until his death in 1930, but after that the place became neglected. In 1937 Gilbert Ireland Blackburne pulled down the older, north side of the Hall; a demolition sale was held on 14 July 1937, just one day after he sold the majority of the estate (some 2,600 acres) to the Fleetwood-Hesketh family. The newer, Nash, part of the house was gutted, and by 1950 it was 'riddled with dry rot' and derelict. The Fleetwood-Heskeths, finding the house uninhabitable, restored and modernised the smaller and more elegant former vicarage, which became known as Hale Manor House and remains the centre of the estate. The remains of the Hall gradually subsided into ruin, but survived until about 1984, when everything except some minor outbuildings was pulled down. 

Descent: George Ireland (d. 1596); to son, John Ireland (c.1558-1614); to brother, Gilbert Ireland (c.1560-1626); to son, John Ireland (c.1597-1633); to son, Sir Gilbert Ireland (1624-75), kt.; to nephew, Gilbert Aspinwall (d. 1717); to son, Edward Aspinwall (d. 1719); to son, Ireland Aspinwall (d. 1733); to sister, Mary, wife of Isaac Greene of Childwall (Lancs); to daughters of whom Ireland Greene secured Hale and married Thomas Blackburne (1720-68) of Orford Hall; to son, John Blackburne (1754-1833); to son, John Ireland Blackburne (1783-1874); to son, John Ireland Blackburne (1817-93); to son, Col. Robert Ireland Blackburne (1850-1930), who moved out of the hall c.1924; to son, Gilbert Ireland Blackburne (b. 1887), who sold 1937 to Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh (1905-85)... for sale, 2026.

Blackburne family of Hale Hall and Orford Hall

Blackburne, Richard (c.1570-1641). Son of William Blackburne (d. c.1616) of Thistleton (Lancs) (who was in partnership with his brother Richard as a Russia merchant), and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William Kitchen of Forton (Lancs), born about 1570. Yeoman farmer at Scorton Hall and later at Thistleton and Newton-le-Willows. A Roman Catholic in religion. He married Jane, daughter of John Ainsworth of Newton-le-Willows, and had issue:

(1) John Blackburne (1596-1651), of Eccleston and Newton-le-Willows (Lancs), baptised at Winwick, 5 January 1596/7; yeoman; married Clemence [surname unknown] and had issue; died before 11 April 1651;

(2) Richard Blackburne (fl. 1662); a Roman Catholic in religion; he lived at The Hill in Goosnargh (Lancs) (which was later given to the Franciscans as a presbytery for the chapel of St Francis); married, 13 April 1623, Anne Parr (fl. 1662), and probably had issue; died after 1662;

(3) Thomas Blackburne (1605-63) (q.v.);

(4) Edward Blackburne (d. 1669), of Okenbridge (Lancs); married, probably on 31 January 1631/2 at Coxwold (Yorks NR), Grace Doutewaite?, and had issue; buried at Garstang (Lancs), 24 March 1668/9; administration of goods granted 1670;

(5) Robert Blackburne (d. by 1642)*, of Thistleton (Lancs); married, Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Longworth of Tarnicar Hall (who m2, Thomas Beck of Kirkland); died before 29 August 1642;

(6) Anne Blackburne (d. 1661); married Humphrey Nickson or Nicholson (d. 1632) of Lancaster (Lancs) and had issue one daughter; buried 16 March 1660/1;

(7) Elizabeth Blackburne (fl. 1641); married Thomas Standish (fl. 1641).

He lived at Scorton Hall near Garstang (Lancs) and later at Thistleton and Newton-le-Willows (Lancs).

He died 14 May 1641. His wife was living in 1617 but her date of death is unknown.

* He is sometimes confused with the much later Robert Blackburne, who was arrested on suspicion of involvement with Catholic plots of 1694 or 1695 and although never brought to trial, is said to have been imprisoned in Newgate Gaol for fifty-three years.

Blackburne, Thomas (1605-63). Third son of Richard Blackburne of Scorton, Thistleton and Newton (Lancs), and his wife, baptised at Winwick, 9 June 1605. There seems to be no evidence that he was involved with the Russia/Baltic trade of earlier generations, and he may have made money from the cloth trade. He was 'esteemed as a learned man' who was also skilful in archery and made the transition from yeoman to landed gentry through his acquisition of Orford Hall. He may have been raised as a Roman Catholic, but seems to have avoided any active part in the Civil War and (at least outwardly) to have conformed to the religious orthodoxy of the day; as a result he avoided the sequestration of his property. He married, April 1626 at Grappenhall (Ches.) (licence 8 April), Margaret (fl. 1664), daughter of Robert Norris of Bolton (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Jane Blackburne (b. 1627?), probably born in 1627; married Capt. John? Widdowes (fl. 1666) of Lowton, a Royalist who compounded for his estate in 1649;

(2) Margaret Blackburne (b. 1628), baptised at Winwick, 28? December 1628; married John Bretherton (b. c.1632; fl. 1664) of Hey;

(3) Katherine Blackburne (b. 1630; fl. 1662), baptised at Winwick, 28 December 1630; died unmarried before 1664;

(4) Isabel Blackburne (c.1632-78), born about 1632; married 1st, George Parkinson (d. c.1657) of Fairsnape, Chipping (Lancs), son of Robert Parkinson, and 2nd, by 1659, John Clifton of Lytham (Lancs), brother of Sir Thomas Clifton, 1st bt.; buried at Lancaster, 20 July 1678;

(5) Thomas Blackburne (1633-70) (q.v.);

(6) Anne Blackburne (b. 1635), baptised at Winwick, 7 May 1635; married 1st, after 20 March 1662/3, Richard Houghton of Middleton, and 2nd, John Barker of Latchford;

(7) Alice Blackburn (1637-64), baptised at Winwick, 24 April 1637; died unmarried and was buried at Warrington, 22 November 1664;

(8) Helen/Ellyn Blackburn (b. 1639), baptised at Winwick, 11 April 1639;

(9) Richard Blackburne (b. 1640), baptised at Winwick, 11 April 1640; died unmarried before 1670;

(10) Robert Blackburne (fl. 1642), born before 1642 but perhaps died young, and certainly before 1670;

(11) Jonathan Blackburne (1646-1725) (q.v.)

(12) John Blackburne (d. by 1727), of Liverpool, salt refiner and merchant, in partnership with his brother Jonathan;

(13) Charles Blackburne (d. 1655), buried at Warrington, 16 October 1655; 

(14) Hester Blackburne; married*, after 20 March 1662/3, Edward? Holland of Sutton;

(15) Mary Blackburn (d. 1660); died young and was buried at Winwick, 17 June 1660;

(16) Lydia Blackburn (b. 1657?), possibly the child of this name baptised at Grappenhall (Ches.), 16 November 1657; married* at Warrington (but entered in the Grappenhall register), 1682, John Newton of Rostherne (Ches.) and had issue; death not traced.

He inherited the Newton  Hall, Newton-le-Willows (Lancs) estate from his father and bought Orford Hall, Warrington in 1637.

He was buried at Winwick, 29 September 1663; his will was proved at Chester, 1664. His widow was living in 1689 but her date of death is unknown.

* But the Visitation of Lancashire, 1664, says she died unmarried.

Blackburne, Thomas (1633-70). Eldest son of Thomas Blackburne (1605-63) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Robert Norris of Bolton (Lancs), baptised at Winwick, 15 March 1632/3. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Orford Hall from his father in 1663.

He was buried at Winwick, 25 March 1670.

Blackburne, Jonathan (1646-1725). Fourth son of Thomas Blackburne (1605-63) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Robert Norris of Bolton (Lancs), born 1646. In 1696, he and his brother John obtained permission to built a salt works on the south shore at Liverpool. JP for Lancashire; High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1715-16. He married 1st, 12 May 1668 at Great Budworth (Ches.), Bridget (d. 1674), daughter of Thomas Blomfield of Little Legh (Ches.), and 2nd, 16 June 1692 at Deane-by-Bolton (Lancs), Anne (1657-1732), daughter of Thomas Lever of Chamber Hall (Lancs), and widow of Christopher Lockwood (d. 1684) of Leeds, and had issue:

(1.1) Margaret Blackburne (1669-1734), baptised at Winwick, 13 May 1669; married, 20 July 1686 at Warrington (Ches.), Thomas Patten (1662-1726) of Patten Lane, Warrington, and had issue at least two sons and one daughter; buried at Warrington, 18 July 1734;

(1.2) Bridget Blackburne (1672-1702), baptised at Winwick, 11 February 1671/2; married, 13 April 1697 at Warrington, Rev. Henry Richmond (1674-1721), vicar of Garstang and rector of Liverpool, 1706-21 (who m2, 16 October 1707 at Coley chapel, Halifax (Yorks WR), Sarah Langley of Hipperholme near Halifax, and had a further two sons and two daughters), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 28 November 1702 and was buried at Winwick;

(1.3) Katherine Blackburne (1673-74), baptised at Winwick, 17 August 1673; died in infancy and was buried at Winwick, 9 April 1674;

(1.4) Martha Blackburne (1674-1742), baptised at Winwick, 29 October 1674; married, 12 August 1702 at Warrington, Samuel Blinston (d. by 1721), yeoman, and had issue at least two sons; buried at Winwick, 22 April 1742;

(2.1) Thomas Blackburne (1693-96), baptised at Warrington, 16 July 1693; died young and was buried at Winwick, 14 February 1695/6;

(2.2) John Blackburne (1694-1786) (q.v.);

(2.3) Jonathan Blackburne (1700-15), born 7 August and baptised at Warrington, 14 August 1700; died young and was buried at Winwick, 6 December 1715.

He inherited Orford Hall from his elder brother in 1670 and remodelled the house with a new south front and sash windows in c.1716.

He died 20 February, and was buried at Winwick, 23 February 1724/5; his will was proved 7 June 1725. His first wife died following childbirth and was buried at Winwick, 14 December 1674. His widow died 20 September 1732 and was buried at St Peter, Leeds, where she is commemorated by a monument.

John Blackburne (1693-1786) 

Blackburne, John (1694-1786). Second, but only surviving, son of Jonathan Blackburne (1646-1725) and his second wife, Anne, daughter of Thomas Lever of Chamber Hall (Lancs), and widow of Christopher Lockwood, baptised at Warrington, 13 September 1694. Educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (matriculated 1712) and Middle Temple (admitted 1712). JP for Warrington and DL (from 1743) for Lancashire; High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1743-44. He inherited the Liverpool Salt Works from his father in 1725 and in 1746 he purchased the Dungeon Salt Works at Hale. He invested in some sixteen slaving voyages from Liverpool in the 1740s and 1750s, and in 1753 was listed as a member of the city's Company of Africa Merchants. He was a keen gardener and botanist and maintained extensive gardens and hothouses for the growing of exotic plants at Orford Hall; it was later claimed incorrectly that he grew the first pineapple in England, but he certainly did grow pineapples and bananas and other tropical plants; a full catalogue of his collection was published by his gardener, Adam Neal. His portrait was painted by Hamlet Winstanley, and originally depicted him holding a pineapple in his left hand, although this was subsequently painted out; Winstanley also painted for him a massive memorial picture of the whole family, which hung on the stairs at Orford. In 1761 he built and endowed a village school at Orford. He married, 9 June 1719 at Prestwich (Lancs), Catherine (1702-40), daughter and co-heir of Rev. William Ashton of Chadderton Hall (Lancs), rector of Prestwich, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Blackburne (1720-68) (q.v.);

(2) Jonathan Blackburne (1721-84), born 1 September and baptised at Warrington, 10 September 1721; educated at Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1741; BCL 1747); a partner in the family salt business in Liverpool; he became an eminent antiquary and print collector, whose collection of some 10,000 prints was sold in London in 1786; he died unmarried and was buried at Winwick, 12 October 1784; will proved 20 December 1784;

(3) John Blackburne (1723-89), baptised at Warrington, 7 May 1823; merchant in Liverpool, in partnership with his father in the saltworks and slave trading; also invested in the building of canals, including the Sankey Canal in 1757, and in salt works at Anderton (sold 1757) and Wilton (Ches.); mayor of Liverpool, 1760-61; married, 2 May 1753 at St Thomas, Liverpool, Dorothy Barrett (d. 1779) of Appleby (Westmld.) and had issue four sons and one daughter; buried at St Thomas, Liverpool, 29 August 1789;

(4) Anne Blackburne (1726-93), baptised at Warrington, 3 January 1726/7; lived at Orford Hall and - after her father's death - at Fairfield, Warrington (Lancs), which was built for her; a pioneering female naturalist and correspondent of Linnaeus and Thomas Pennant; died unmarried, 30 December 1793;

(5) William Blackburne (1727-93?), baptised at Warrington, 12 February 1726/7; lived at Leeds (Yorks WR); married, 27 May 1762 at York, Mary (1734-1821), daughter of William Preston (1691-1772) of Leeds, merchant, and had issue two sons and two daughters; said to have died in or before 1793, but burial not traced;

(6) Ashton Blackburne (1728-c.1780), baptised at Warrington, 16 July 1728; emigrated to America in the 1760s and lived near New York (USA), probably on Long Island; he supplied ornithological and other American specimens for his sister's museum which later passed into the collection of her friend Thomas Pennant; he died unmarried about 1780 and certainly before 1785;

(7) James Blackburne (d. 1737); died young and was buried at Winwick (Lancs), 6 November 1737;

(8) Mary Blackburne (1736-45), baptised at Warrington, 3 September 1736; died young and was buried at Winwick, 2 March 1744/5.

He inherited Orford Hall from his father in 1725 and purchased the manor of Warrington in 1769.

He died aged 92 on 20 December 1786, and was buried at Winwick; his will was proved in the PCC, 27 February 1787. His wife died 27 June and was buried at Winwick, 29 June 1740.

Blackburne, Thomas (1720-68). Eldest son of John Blackburne (1694-1786) and his wife Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Rev. William Ashton, rector of Prestwich (Lancs), born 19 May and baptised at Warrington, 9 June 1720. Educated at Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1739) and undertook a grand tour, travelling to Rome and Naples in 1748-49, where he is said to have amassed a rich collection of coins and medals. High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1763-64. He married, 28 January 1752 at Hale, Ireland (1728-95), daughter and co-heir of Isaac Green (1678-1749) of Childwall and Hale (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) John Blackburne (1754-1833) (q.v.);

(2) Rev. Thomas Blackburne (1758-1823), of Thelwall Hall (Ches.), born 23 June and baptised at St Thomas, Liverpool, 24 July 1758; educated at Westminster, Brasenose and Trinity Colleges, Oxford (matriculated 1776; BA 1780; MA and BCL 1794; DCL 1801) and Middle Temple (admitted 1777); ordained deacon, 1781; perpetual curate of Thelwall, 1782-1806 and vicar of Weaverham (Ches), 1796-1806; Warden of the Collegiate Church of Manchester (to which post he was appointed as a political favour to his brother John), 1800-23; JP for Cheshire; married, 4 April 1782 at Runcorn (Ches.), Margaret (1756-1823), eldest daughter of Sir Richard Brooke, 4th bt., of Norton Priory (Ches.), and had issue two daughters; died 10 January 1823; will proved at Chester, 24 May 1823 (effects under £25,000);

(3) Isaac Blackburne (1759-1830), of Warrington; born 26 November 1759; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1778; BA 1782; MA 1785); lived at Mill Bank, near Warrington; JP for Warrington; High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1803-04; distributor of stamps for Manchester, 1823-30, to which post he was appointed as a political favour to his brother John; he was travelling in France at the time of the French Revolution, 1791, but seems to have avoided arrest or other misfortunes; married, 13 June 1793 at Warrington, Alice (1769-1820), only daughter and heiress of Walter Kerfoot, and had issue five sons and five daughters; died 17 December, and was buried at Warrington, 24 December 1830;

(4) Anne Blackburne (1764?-1826), born about 1764 (based on age stated on marriage licence and age at burial); married, 3 August 1786, William Bamford (1764-1806) of Bamford Hall, Bury (Lancs), but had no issue; died 6 January and was buried at Hale, 12 January 1826.

His wife was co-heir of her father, and inherited Hale Hall (Lancs) following agreement of a deed of partition with her sisters.

He died in the lifetime of his father, 15 January, and was buried at Hale, 18 January 1768. His widow was buried at Hale, 19 August 1795; her will was proved 19 December 1795.

John Blackburne (1754-1833) 

Blackburne, John (1754-1833). Eldest son of Thomas Blackburne (1720-68) and his wife Ireland, daughter and co-heir of Isaac Green of Childwall and Hale (Lancs), born 5 August 1754. Educated at Warrington GS, Harrow and Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1772). JP and DL (from 1794) for Lancashire; High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1781-82. Tory MP for Lancashire, 1784-1830, who was generally a supporter of Hon. William Pitt (1759-1806) and later of Henry Addington (1757-1844), 1st Viscount Sidmouth, but never held office. Captain commanding Hale Volunteers, 1803. Salt merchant at Liverpool. When his saltworks there became a nuisance to the expanding city he purchased the manor of Garston (Lancs), where he built a new saltworks and a dock for the export of salt in 1793, later operated in partnership with his eldest son. A Fellow of the Royal Society, 1794-1833. In his later years he became somewhat eccentric in his manner, and his ‘extremely absent and otherwise odd’ demeanour and intermittent attention to constituency business became an embarrassment to his political colleagues. He married, 19 April 1781 at St Mary, Walcot, Bath (Som.), Anne (1753*-1823), daughter of Samuel Rodbard of Evercreech (Som.), and had issue:

(1) John Ireland Blackburne (1783-1874) (q.v.);

(2) Mary Blackburne (1785-1856), born 10 March and baptised at Holy Trinity, Chester, 17 August 1785; married, 14 July 1803 at Hale, George John Legh (1769-1832) of High Legh (Ches.), son of George Legh (1703-80), and had issue five sons and eight daughters; died in London, 10 June 1856 and was buried at Rostherne (Ches.);

(3) Anna Blackburne (1787-1852), born 14 January and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), 10 February 1787; married, 25 April 1811 at St Margaret, Westminster, Edwin Corbett (1779-1858) of Tilstone Lodge (Ches.), and had issue at least two sons and three daughters; buried at Bunbury (Ches.), 25 November 1852;

(4) Elizabeth Blackburne (1789-1870), born 13 July 1789; lived in London with her sister Harriet; died unmarried, 15 May, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 19 May 1870; administration of goods granted 21 September 1870 (effects under £2,000);

(5) Rev. Thomas Blackburne (1790-1847), born 29 December 1790 and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster, 1 April 1791; educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (matriculated 1809; BA 1814; MA 1815); ordained deacon, 1815 and priest, 1819; vicar of Eccles (Lancs), 1818-37, and rector of Prestwich (Lancs), 1837-47, where he built a new rectory; married, 2 September 1819 at St Oswald, Chester, Emma Anne** (1795-1886), daughter of Henry Hesketh of Newton (Ches.), and had issue eight children (including William Ireland Blackburne (later Blackburne-Maze) of Boundes Park (Kent)); died suddenly from a stroke, 5 August 1847; will proved 5 January 1848;

(6) Harriet Blackburne (1794-1877), born 25 April and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster, 26 May 1794; lived in London with her sister Elizabeth; died unmarried, 13 February 1877; will proved 13 April 1877 (effects under £600);

(7) Rev. Gilbert Rodbard Blackburne (1800-83), born 15 May and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster, 23 June 1800; educated at Rugby and Magdalene College, Cambridge (matriculated 1819; BA 1824; MA 1828); ordained deacon, 1826, and priest, 1827; curate of Crofton (Yorks), 1826-37; perpetual curate of Church Minshull (Ches.), 1837-42 and Whitchurch (Som.), 1844-78; vicar of Long Ashton (Som.), 1841-83; married, 9 August 1832 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Charlotte Catherine Frances (1800-83), eldest daughter of Maj-Gen. Sir Montagu Roger Burgoyne, 8th bt., of Sutton Park (Beds) and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 25 September 1883 and was buried at Long Ashton; will proved 2 November 1883 (effects £3,085).

He inherited Orford Hall from his grandfather in 1786 and Hale Hall from his mother in 1795. 

He died 11 April and was buried at Hale, 23 April 1833; his will was proved 15 May 1833. His wife died 7 January and was buried at Hale, 13 January 1823.

* Most online genealogies give a later date, but she was baptised at Shepton Mallet on 2 February 1753.

** Before her marriage she had founded a Female Friendly Society which was notable in supporting not only women who fell on hard times because of illness or injury, but also those who fell pregnant; in 1830 she found herself caring for William Huskisson, the Liverpool MP who was fatally injured at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, and who was carried to her house after the accident.

Blackburne, John Ireland (1783-1874). Eldest son of John Blackburne (1754-1833) and his wife Anne, daughter of Samuel Rodbard of Evercreech (Som.), born 26 May and was baptised at Holy Trinity, Chester, 4 July 1783. Educated at Warrington GS, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1801; honorary MA 1803). An officer in the 2nd Lancashire Militia (Capt., 1803) and Warrington Regiment of Local Militia (Lt-Col. commanding, 1809). JP (from 1816) and DL for Lancashire; he was a regular member of the Grand Jury at the Lancashire Assizes. MP for Newton, 1807-18 and Warrington, 1835-47; in his earlier period in parliament he generally took the same independent line as his father, supporting Lord Sidmouth but giving his support to the Whigs on particular issues; in his second period in parliament he sat as a Conservative. Salt refiner and merchant at Garston (Lancs) on the river Mersey in partnership with his father and brother-in-law, Edwin Corbett of Tilstone Lodge (Ches.). He was one of the stewards of the Liverpool Musical Festival, 1813. As a young man, he became keen on foxhunting. He married, 13 April 1811 at Knutsford (Ches.), his first cousin, Anne (c.1791-1861), daughter of William Bamford of Bamford (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Anna Mary Blackburne (1812-43), born 20 October 1812; died unmarried at Leamington (Warks), 26 May, and was buried at Hale, 1 June 1843;

(2) Emily Blackburne (1814?-63), baptised at Hale, 23 October 1815, but perhaps born a year earlier; died unmarried of a infectious disease, 7 February, and was buried at Hale, 12 February 1863;

(3) Harriett Elizabeth Blackburne (1815-1909), born at Palermo, Sicily (Italy), 9 May, and baptised at Hale, 23 October 1815; died unmarried, aged 94, on 26 August 1909; administration of goods (with will annexed) granted 18 December 1909 (estate £10,717);

(4) John Ireland Blackburne (1817-93) (q.v.);

(5) Georgina Emma Catherine Blackburne (1820-32), born 25 November 1820 and baptised at Rostherne (Lancs), 17 October 1821; died young at Hale Hall, 6 July 1832;

(6) Ellinor Avena Blackburne (1827-1906), baptised at Hale, 25 March 1827; married, 14 December 1854 at Hale, Russell Charles Stanhope (c.1823-66) of Parsonstown Manor (Co. Meath), son of Maj. the Hon. Sir Francis Charles Stanhope (1788-1862), and had issue three sons and two daughters; died in Paris (France), 27 November 1906; will proved 20 February 1907 (estate £8,483).

He lived for a time at Eaton Bank, Tarporley (Ches.) before he inherited Hale Hall and Orford Hall from his father in 1833.

He died aged 90 on 27 January, and was buried at Hale, 31 January 1874; his will was proved 9 March 1874 (effects under £10,000, which was insufficient to pay the legacies set out in his will). His wife was buried at Hale, 25 July 1861.

John Ireland Blackburne (1817-93) 

Blackburne, John Ireland (1817-93). Only son of John Ireland Blackburne (1783-1874) and his wife Anne, daughter of William Bamford of Bamford (Lancs), born 28 May and baptised at Hale, 5 August 1817. Educated at Eton. An officer in the 5th Dragoon Guards (Cornet, 1835; Lt., 1836; Capt., 1841; retired 1849) and in the 4th Royal Lancashire Militia (Maj., 1852; Lt-Col. commanding, 1853; Col., 1871; retired 1874); JP and DL (from 1850) for Lancashire; Conservative MP for South-West Lancashire, 1875-85. His portrait was painted by James Archer in 1875. He married 1st, 12 November 1846 at Holy Trinity, St Marylebone (Middx), Mary (1825-55), eldest daughter of Sir Henry Bold Hoghton, 8th bt., of Hoghton Tower (Lancs), and 2nd, 23 February 1857 at Leamington Priors (Warks), Emma Jemima (1817-70), daughter of George Ravenscroft and widow of Robert Devereux (1809-55), 15th Viscount Hereford, and had issue:

(1.1) Dorothea Anne Blackburne (1848-1917), born 2 March and baptised at Bishopthorpe (Yorks WR), 28 April 1848; married, 4 November 1884 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Heywood Bright (1836-97) of Sandheys, West Derby, Liverpool (Lancs), shipowner, son of Samuel Bright, and had issue one daughter; died 16 February 1917; administration of goods granted 20 April 1917 (estate £1,510);

(1.2) Emily Blackburne (1849-1936), baptised at Oakamoor (Staffs), 1 August 1849; married 1st, 23 July 1867 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, William John Hope-Edwardes (1836-67), eldest son of Thomas Henry Hope (later Hope-Edwardes) of Moor Park and Netley Hall (Shrops.), but had no issue; married 2nd, 2 August 1873 at St Paul, Wilton Place, Westminster, Robert Crawford Antrobus (1830-1911), third son of Sir Edmund Antrobus, 2nd bt., of Amesbury Abbey (Wilts), and had issue one son and two daughters; died 21 December 1936; her will was proved 1 March 1937 (estate £4,958);

(1.3) Robert Ireland Blackburne (1850-1930) (q.v.);

(1.4) Margaret Everilda Blackburne (1851-1942), born 18 November 1851 and baptised at Oakamoor, 19 January 1852; married, 20 February 1873 at Hale, Sir John Edwards Edwards-Moss (1850-1935), 2nd bt. and had issue three sons and two daughters; died aged 90 on 16 June 1942 and was buried at Cheadle (Staffs); will proved 8 December 1942 (estate £1,415);

(1.5) Alice Mary Blackburne (1853-55), born 13 October 1853 and baptised at Hale, 19 January 1854; died in infancy and was buried at Hale, 7 August 1855.

He lived at Light Oaks, Cheadle (Staffs) until he inherited Hale Hall and Orford Hall from his father in 1874.

He died in London, 5 September 1893, and was buried at Overleigh Old Cemetery, Chester; his will was proved 1 February 1894 (effects £106,235). His first wife died 30 April 1855. His second wife died 26 October 1870; administration of her goods was granted 19 December 1870 (effects under £450).

Robert Ireland Blackburne (1850-1930) 

Blackburne, Robert Ireland (1850-1930). Only son of John Ireland Blackburne (1817-93) and his first wife, Mary, eldest daughter of Sir Henry Bold Hoghton, 8th bt., of Hoghton Tower (Lancs), born 13 October and baptised at Hale, 12 December 1850. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1868). JP and DL (from 1876) for Lancashire. An officer in the South Lancashire Regiment (Lt., 1871; Capt., 1875; Maj., 1892; Lt-Col. commanding the 3rd battalion, 1896; retired as Hon. Col., 1903), who served in Boer War, 1900-01 (appointed CB, 1901). He married, 5 February 1885 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Georgina Vernon (1864-1936), youngest daughter of Lt-Col. Sir Gustavus Hume (1826-91), kt., and had issue:

(1) (Cecil) Gilbert Charles Montagu Ireland Blackburne (1887-1963) (q.v.);

(2) John Ireland Blackburne (1889-1958), born 9 August and baptised at Nantglyn (Denbighs.), 17 September 1889; an officer in the South Lancashire Regt. (2nd Lt., 1915; Lt., 1918; A/Capt. 1919); married, 30 October 1919 at St Ann, Rainhill (Lancs) (div. 1930), Editha Marjorie MBE (1891-1973), only daughter of Henry John Bromilow, colliery director, of Rann Lea, Rainhill, but had no issue; died 20 October 1958 and was buried at Stratford-sub-Castle (Wilts);

(3) Mary Ireland Blackburne (1891-1983), born 10 August 1891; died unmarried aged 91 on 24 June 1983; will proved 3 November 1983 (estate £2,630).

He inherited Hale Hall and Orford Hall from his father in 1893, but sold Orford Hall in 1917 and gave up Hale Hall in about 1924. He lived subsequently in London and the south of France.

He died at St Jean de Luz (France), 23 May 1930; his will was proved 16 July 1930 (estate £116,544). His widow died at St Jean de Luz (France), 23 May 1936; administration of her goods was granted 17 November 1936 (estate in England £161).

Gilbert Ireland Blackburne (1887-1963) 

Blackburne, (Cecil) Gilbert Charles Montagu Ireland (1887-1963). Elder son of Robert Ireland Blackburne (1850-1930) and his wife Georgina Vernon, youngest daughter of Lt-Col. Sir Gustavus Hume, born 14 January and baptised at Nantglyn (Denbighs.), 18 February 1887. Educated at Eton. An officer in South Lancashire Regt. (2nd Lt. in militia battalion, 1905; 2nd Lt., 1914; Lt., 1915), who served in the First World War (in Mesopotamia) and was later an officer in a National Defence Company (Capt., 1939). A freemason from 1921. In 1936 he was employed as a brewery manager. He married, 10 November 1910 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Melloney Catherine Isabel (k/a Kitty) (1891-1965), eldest daughter of Lt-Col. Charles à Court (later à Court-Repington) CMG of Amington Hall, Tamworth (Warks), and had issue:

(1) Michael Robert Ireland Blackburne (b. 1922), born 9 January 1922; educated at Harrow; an officer in the army (Capt.; ret. 1955), who served in the Second World War in France, Singapore and Brunei; awarded MBE, 1948; stockbroker with Lawrence Prust & Co.; lived at Mote House, Bearsted (Kent); married 1st, 6 February 1943 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster, Helen Annette (1922-83), daughter of Capt. William Piers-Jones of Llanerch Park (Flints), and had issue one son and two daughters; he married 2nd, 3 May 1973, Margaret (1925-2010), daughter of Kenneth Pearce Ellis and widow of John Richard Cailloue Murton (1911-71); death not traced.

He lived in various places, including Budleigh Salterton (Devon) and Appleton (Ches.). He inherited Hale Hall from his father in 1930, but demolished most of the house and sold most of the estate in 1937. After the Second World War he bought Mawarden Court, Stratford-sub-Castle (Wilts).

He died 19 March 1963; his will was proved 4 June 1964 (estate £55,301). His wife died 13 May 1965; her will was proved 12 August 1965 (estate £13,927).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1969, pp. 48-49; M. Gregson, Portfolio of fragments relative to the history and antiquities of the county palatine of Lancaster, 1817, part 2, p.200; W. Beamont, Hale Hall, 1881; W. Beamont, Hale and Orford: an account of two old Lancashire houses, 1886; W. Farrer (ed.), VCH Lancashire, vol. 3, 1907, pp. 140-49, 316-24; P. Fleetwood-Hesketh, Murray's Lancashire Architectural Guide, 1955, p. 145; M. Mansbridge, John Nash - a complete catalogue, 1991, p. 124; R. Pollard & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Lancashire - Liverpool and the south-west, 2006, p. 190; J. Harris, Moving Rooms, 2007, pp. 115, 176, 241.

https://bygoneliverpool.wordpress.com/2022/12/17/the-blackburne-family-of-orford-hall-liverpool-and-hale-salt-and-slaves/;

https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3366/jsbnh.1977.8.2.148;

https://bygoneliverpool.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/guest-blog-thomas-blackburne-and-newton-hall/;

https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/historic-townships/garston/;

https://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/halewood/articles/oldhutt/oldhutt.htm.

Location of archives

Blackburne family of Hale and Orford: deeds, manorial records, estate and family papers, 1203-1873 [Lancashire Archives, DDib]; deeds, estate and legal papers, 16th-20th cents [Cheshire Archives, DGR]; estate plans, 1758-1847 [Cheshire Archives, DWW].

Coat of arms

Argent, a fesse nebulée between three mullets sable.

Can you help?

• Does anyone know the current location of the pine-panelled room of 1671 from Hale Hall, which may have been exported to the USA, and can anyone provide other photographs of the interior of Hale Hall, particularly of the Nash rooms on the south front?
• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 23 August 2026.