Edward Blakeney
Encyclopedia
Field Marshal
Sir Edward Blakeney PC (Ire)
GCB
GCH
(26 March 1778 – 2 August 1868) was a British Army
Field Marshal
.
, who sat in the Parliament of Ireland
, and his wife Sarah née Shields. He entered the British Army in 1794 and was commissioned as a cornet in the 8th Light Dragoons
.
, Berbice
, and Essequibo
in 1796; in the course of this service he was three times taken prisoner by privateer
s and suffered severe hardships. In 1798, he helped in the evacuation of Santo Domingo
. A year later, he went with the expedition to Holland, and was present in the actions of 10 and 19 September, and also in those of 2 and 6 October. In 1807 he sailed with the 7th Regiment of Foot, to the Baltic, joined Lord Cathcart's expedition, and took part in the capture of the Danish fleet and the surrender of Copenhagen
. He was present at the taking of Martinique
in 1809.
in the years 1811–1814 and otained the command of the 1st Battalion, 7th Foot as lieutenant-colonel on 20 June 1811. He proceeded to Lisbon
and fought in the Battle of Bussaco and the Battle of Albuera
(where he was severely wounded through the thigh), the action at Aldea de Ponte, the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz (where he was severely wounded through the arm in the assault), battles of Vitoria
, Pampeluna and Pyrenees. In November 1813, he led his battalion in the Battle of Nivelle
. He joined the army in Belgium
in 1815, and was present at the capture of Paris
. For those and other services he received the Army Gold Medal
and a silver war medal
, and was made a knight of the Tower and Sword of Portugal in 1812. He was gazetted a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
on 2 January 1815.
and on 20 September 1832 he received the colonelcy of his old regiment, the 7th Foot. Four years later, he succeeded Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt
as the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
and on those occasion was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland
on 7 May 1836. He was advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath on 7 May 1849. His general's commission dates from 20 June 1854 and in December, he was exchanged as colonel of the 1st Foot, which appointment he retained to his death in 1865. Blakeney resigned his position as commander in 1855 and returned to England. He became lieutenant-governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
on 6 February, and on 25 September 1856 the Governor of that establishment. A field-marshalship
was conferred on him 9 November 1862 and was also made colonel-in-chief of the Rifle Brigade, 28 August 1865.
six days later. They had no children.
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Sir Edward Blakeney PC (Ire)
Privy Council of Ireland
The Privy Council of Ireland was an institution of the Kingdom of Ireland until 31 December 1800 and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801-1922...
GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
GCH
Royal Guelphic Order
The Royal Guelphic Order, sometimes also referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent . It has not been conferred by the British Crown since the death of King William IV in 1837, when the personal union of the...
(26 March 1778 – 2 August 1868) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
.
Background
Born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Blakeney, was the fourth son of Colonel William BlakeneyWilliam Blakeney (died 1804)
Colonel William Blakeney was an Irish British Army officer and politician.He was born the son of MP John Blakeney and was the brother of Robert, John and Theophilus Blakeney....
, who sat in the Parliament of Ireland
Parliament of Ireland
The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords in which the lords...
, and his wife Sarah née Shields. He entered the British Army in 1794 and was commissioned as a cornet in the 8th Light Dragoons
8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958....
.
Early years
Accompanying the expedition under Major-General White to the West Indies as captain in the 99th Regiment of Foot, he was present at the capture of DemeraraDemerara
Demerara was a region in South America in what is now Guyana that was colonised by the Dutch in 1611. The British invaded and captured the area in 1796...
, Berbice
Berbice
Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1815 a colony of the Netherlands. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom in the latter year, it was merged with Essequibo and Demerara to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831...
, and Essequibo
Essequibo
Essequibo may refer to:* The Essequibo River is one of the larger South American rivers located in the country of Guyana.* The former Dutch colony of Essequibo, in the region of the river...
in 1796; in the course of this service he was three times taken prisoner by privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s and suffered severe hardships. In 1798, he helped in the evacuation of Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
. A year later, he went with the expedition to Holland, and was present in the actions of 10 and 19 September, and also in those of 2 and 6 October. In 1807 he sailed with the 7th Regiment of Foot, to the Baltic, joined Lord Cathcart's expedition, and took part in the capture of the Danish fleet and the surrender of Copenhagen
Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet and in turn originate the term to Copenhagenize.-Background:Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in...
. He was present at the taking of Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
in 1809.
Peninsular War
Blakeney served during the campaigns of the Peninsular WarPeninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
in the years 1811–1814 and otained the command of the 1st Battalion, 7th Foot as lieutenant-colonel on 20 June 1811. He proceeded to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
and fought in the Battle of Bussaco and the Battle of Albuera
Battle of Albuera
The Battle of Albuera was an indecisive battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.From...
(where he was severely wounded through the thigh), the action at Aldea de Ponte, the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz (where he was severely wounded through the arm in the assault), battles of Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
, Pampeluna and Pyrenees. In November 1813, he led his battalion in the Battle of Nivelle
Battle of Nivelle
The Battle of Nivelle took place in front of the River Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War . After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were in hot pursuit of Marshal Soult who only had 60,000 men to place in a 20-mile perimeter...
. He joined the army in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in 1815, and was present at the capture of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. For those and other services he received the Army Gold Medal
Army Gold Medal
The Army Gold Medal , also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field and general officers' successful commands in recent campaigns, predominately the Peninsular War...
and a silver war medal
Military General Service Medal
The Military General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the British Army.The MGSM was approved on 1 June 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814; a period encompassing the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
, and was made a knight of the Tower and Sword of Portugal in 1812. He was gazetted a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
on 2 January 1815.
Later years
Having retained the command of his battalion until 2 June 1825, the first brigade of the army sent to Portugal was then entrusted to his charge. In 1828, he arrived in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and on 20 September 1832 he received the colonelcy of his old regiment, the 7th Foot. Four years later, he succeeded Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt
Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian
Lieutenant General Richard Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian GCB, GCH, PC , known as Sir Hussey Vivian from 1815 to 1828 and Sir Hussey Vivian, Bt from 1828 to 1841, was a British cavalry leader who came of a Cornish family.-Early career:Educated at Harrow and Exeter College, Oxford, Vivian entered...
as the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland was title of the commander of British forces in Ireland before 1922.The role nominally is held by the President of Ireland today as the supreme commander of the Defence Forces.-Commanders-in-Chief, Ireland, 1700-1922:...
and on those occasion was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland
Privy Council of Ireland
The Privy Council of Ireland was an institution of the Kingdom of Ireland until 31 December 1800 and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801-1922...
on 7 May 1836. He was advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath on 7 May 1849. His general's commission dates from 20 June 1854 and in December, he was exchanged as colonel of the 1st Foot, which appointment he retained to his death in 1865. Blakeney resigned his position as commander in 1855 and returned to England. He became lieutenant-governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
Royal Hospital Chelsea
The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London, now the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a true hospital in the original sense of the word,...
on 6 February, and on 25 September 1856 the Governor of that establishment. A field-marshalship
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
was conferred on him 9 November 1862 and was also made colonel-in-chief of the Rifle Brigade, 28 August 1865.
Personal life
In 1814, he married Maria, a daughter of Colonel Gardiner of the East India Company's service. She died at Chelsea Hospital in 1866, aged 76. Blakeney survived her by two years, dying in the same hospital on 2 August 1868, and was buried at TwickenhamTwickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
six days later. They had no children.