Sir Francis Blake, 1st Baronet, of Tillmouth Park

Sir Francis Douglas Blake, 1st Baronet CB DL (27 February 1856 – 5 February 1940) was Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland, Vice Lord Lieutenant in 1920 and 1931, a Justice of the Peace, and a Member of Parliament.

The son of Francis Blake (1832–1861), the heir of Sir Francis Blake of Twizell Castle, on the death of his father he inherited substantial estates in Northumberland including Tillmouth House, Twizell Castle and Seghill.

He was educated at University College, Oxford, and was admitted to the Inner Temple as a Barrister-at-Law. He was created a Baronet, of Tillmouth Park, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 22 July 1907.^[1]

He became chairman of the Northumberland Quarter Sessions.^[2]

Later he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Berwick on Tweed 1916-1922, and was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1919.^[3]

He also served in the Northumberland Royal Guards Artillery with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was sometime Chairman of the Northumberland County Council.

Blake demolished the family house at Tillmouth and replaced it with a grand mansion in 1882 using in the process large quantities of masonry from the unfinished and abandoned project that was Twizell Castle.

He married on 14 December 1886, Selina Colquhoun, daughter of James Cleland Burns of Glenlee, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, and was succeeded in the Baronetcy by their son Francis.

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 28040. p. 4858. 16 July 1907.
2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92517125?searchTerm=by-election%20berwick&searchLimits=fromyyyy=1916|||frommm|||fromdd|||toyyyy=1916|||tomm|||todd
3. The London Gazette: no. 31099. p. 106. 31 December 1918.

• Mosley, Charles, editor, Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th edition, Crans, Switzerland, 1999, p. 285, ISBN 1-57958-083-1

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Francis Blake
• The Peerage website