Individual Notes
Note for: Eleanor Lucy Blackburn, 31 DEC 1859 - 13 FEB 1941
Index
Burial: Date: 15 FEB 1941
Place: Woodland Cemetary, London
Individual Note: birth year may be 1858.
Individual Notes
Note for: Walter Josiah Blackburn, 4 AUG 1862 - 1920
Index
Burial: Date: 3 JAN 1920
Place: Woodland Cemetary, London
Individual Notes
Note for: Victoria Grace Blackburn, 17 APR 1865 - 4 MAR 1928
Index
Education: Date: ABT 1883
Place: Hellmuth Ladies College
Occupation: Place: School teacher, school principal, writer/poet
Residence: Date: 1900
Place: 652 Talbot Street, London, Canada
Burial: Date: 6 MAR 1928
Place: Woodland Cemetary, London
Individual Note: "March 5, 1928. - Grace Blackbnrn, Noted Writer, Dead.
Miss Grace Blackburn, noted writer and drama critic and one of London's most beloved residents, died in this city early yesterday morning after an illness of several months.
The late Grace Blackburn who had been ill since the autumn was the sixth daughter of the late Josiah Blackburn, proprietor and editor, for nearly forty years, of The London Free Press, and of Emma Delamere, his wife. Born in Quebec city and educated at the London Public Schools and at Hellmuth Ladies' College, Miss Blackburn's wider and more liberal education and her exceptional culture were derived from the distinctive atmosphere of her home life, from extensive and intelligent travel and from wide reading.
Two years were spent at St. Mary's Hall, a Bishop Whipple school at Farebault Minnesota, where the talented Canadian girl taught dramatic reading and English literature. Later she was for one year acting principal of the Diocesan School of Northern Indiana at Indianapolis. In 1900 she returned to Canada to join the staff of The London Free Press as literary and drama critic and writer of special contributions. Since that time, her rise in the literary world has been notable. For three years, with her sisters, she lived abroad in England and in Europe, learning the older lands as few travellers do, breathing in their literature and tradition their music and art, with a finely appreciative mind. Hundreds of London homes still treasure the weekly traveller articles that appeared in The Free Press during this period from the pen of "Fanfan", Grace Blackburn's writing name.
Another period of time was spent in New York, where she perfected her knowledge of the theatre and learned to give additional force to her broadminded, sincere, and scholarly dramatic criticisms.
Outstanding among Canadian poets, Grace Blackburn's work was of a mature, forceful quality, rich in imagery and color and rhythmically distinctive. To those critics and admirers who best knew and loved her poetic gift, and to the literary annals of the period, the fact that she did not permit a collection of her work to be published during her lifetime must be a matter of deep regret. Her poems and articles have appeared extensively in periodicals and anthologies, and her interest and sympathy in the work of others was unfailing.
As an editorial writer on The Free Press, of which she was assistant managing editor, Miss Blackburn contributed daily, pointed, and vigorous articles showing a wide grasp of public affairs. She was closely in touch with the development of the Dominion, and was, before all else, an ardent and loyal Canadian. Miss Blackburn was a member of the Anglican Church.
In London she was a citizen worthy of all honor. No move for the advance of the city, particularly along cultural and educational lines, did not win her interested and active support. Her keen love of the drama developed in her childhood, for in the old Blackburn home on Albert street the young people of the household were given an opportunity to test their dramatic ability in clever amateur theatricals.
One of the instigators of the London Drama League, which owed its inception to the London Women's Press Club, Miss Blackburn produced a number of successful plays in London and devoted much time and skill to the building of scenery along Little Theatre lines. President for several years of the London Women's Press Club, Miss Blackburn later became the honorary president, the only person to have held this office.
An active officer and member of the Women's Canadian Club, it was during her regime as president that her suggested "Perpetual Light" memorial to the soldier dead of London caught the interest of a large number of the citizens. The monument proposed was a tower on Springbank Hill, to be built of the rough stone from the surrounding fields; and crowned with a light whose rays would stretch to London and over the countryside, in undying memory of the men who died. Other civic needs coming to the fore, the memorial plan was waived for a time, and it is probable that the soldier monument, when erected will take a different form, but there are many hundreds of Londoners who will regret that the beautiful thought of the undimmed light was not carried to completion.
The late Miss Blackburn was one of a family of nine children. Her brother, Walter J. Blackburn, president of The London Free Press Publishing Company died some eight years ago. The other members of the family all of whom are living are: Mrs. Charles Vaughan, of Sioux Lookout; Mrs Arthur Bogue of Montreal; Arthur S. Blackburn, now president of the Free Press Publishing Company, and the Misses Margaret, Eleanor and Susan Blackburn residing in London.
The funeral will be conducted by Rev. G.O. Warner, rector of Cronyn Memorial Church and will be private."
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"Grace Blackburn" [Victoria Grace Blackburn; Fan-Fan] ( -1928) by John Garvin, (1872-1934)
Garvin, John William, ed. Canadian Poets. Toronto, Canada: McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, Publishers, 1916. pp. 383-388.
Grace Blackburn
Miss Blackburn, under the nom de plume, 'Fanfan,' has for years been giving us articles in the London Free Press that place her in the fore-front, if not at the head, of the writers upon literary topics, in the daily press of Canada. –'Catholic Record,' London, Ontario.
Miss Blackburn is well known throughout Western Ontario, under the nom de plume, 'Fanfan,' and in the New York theatrical world, is considered one of the best dramatic critics in Canada. –'Hamilton Herald.'
A writer with a large brain and a big, warm heart: a twentieth century thinker, with the individuality of original thought and expression: a poet just beginning to realize her gift, and its underlying responsibility: one of the best equipped of our literary and dramatic critics, and with the faculty of logical and comprehensive interpretation–altogether, a distinct force in the intellectual life of the Dominion, of whom much may be expected. –The Editor.
GRACE BLACKBURN is the fifth daughter of the late Josiah Blackburn, of London, Ontario, proprietor and editor, for nearly forty years, of the Free Press, and one of the ablest and most influential of the earlier newspaper men of Canada. Her mother's maiden name was Emma Delemere. Her paternal grandfather was the Rev. John Blackburn, a Congregationalist pastor of London, England, and for many years editor of the official organ of that denomination. He was also a writer of prominence on matters literary and archeological.
Miss Grace was educated in the public and high schools of her native city, and later in Hellmuth College, then the Diocesan School of Huron. Since graduation, she has been engaged chiefly in educational and journalistic work. She taught English for two years in the Bishop Whipple Schools, Faribault, Minnesota, and for one year was acting Principal of the Diocesan School of Northern Indiana, at Indianapolis. In 1900, she returned to Canada to join the staff of the Free Press, as literary and dramatic critic, etc., and has held the position ever since. Three of those years were spent in New York, in the interests of the paper, and four in Europe, where she journeyed entensively and wrote many fascinating travel articles. Besides her regular newspaper work, she is now giving considerable time and attention to poetic achievement, and to the writing of a novel, with a basic motive arising out of the Great War.
Miss Blackburn is not a 'club woman' as that term is ordinarily understood, but she has long been much interested in 'The Association of Canadian Clubs,' and in 1913, was elected to the official position of Literary Correspondent, and reelected the ensuing year.
The Evening Star
ABOVE the sunset's many-tinted bar,
Where light on light, a smiling iris gnar,
Mellows to mystery of near and far,
Swings passionately pale the Evening Star
Queen of the twilight–from a conquered sky
She smiles to see the Day grow faint and die.
[Page 385]
Epic of the Yser
'DEAD with his face to the foe '
From Hastings to Yser
Our men have died so.
The lad is a hero–
Great Canada's pride:
We sent him with glory,
For glory he died–
So ring out the church-bells Float the flag high
Then I heard at my elbow a fierce mother-cry.
On the desolate plain
Where the dark Yser flows
They'll bury him, maybe,
Our Child of the Snows:
The message we sent them
Through fire and through flood
He signed it and sealed it
To-day with his blood–
United we stand Our Empire is One
But this woman beside me? . . . The boy was her son.
Sing Ho for the Herring
ALONG the sea shore, surf-beaten and brown,
The Fisher-Lass hastes to the Fishing-Town,
In kirtle of blue and bodice of red,
The sun at its nooning over her head,
And braw is the salt wind blowing–
Then sing, sing ho for the Herring,
The shimmering, sliddery Herring
Along the sea shore the Fisher-Lads sigh
For the daffing mouth and the daunting eye,
And they sue and they woo, Rubin, Lubin and Bill,
But she taunts and she flaunts as a Fisher-Lass will;
And sleek is the water flowing–
Then sing, sing ho for the Herring,
The gleeking, glamourish Herring
[Page 386]
Along the sea shore she shadeth her eyes
To where on the wave his white sails rise,
For it seems there's a wraith in the midst of the glare,
And a voice that she loves calls shrilly and rare,
Ah, sly is the under-towing–
Then sing, sing ho for the Herring,
The spectral, the silver-hued Herring.
Along the sea shore in the teeth of the gale,
In its rage and its roar, its swash and its swale,
With faltering steps and staggering tread
They bear him up softly the stark, stark, Dead;
Oh, lang and dour is the knowing–
Then sing, sing ho for the Herring,
The life-giving, death-dealing Herring
If Winter Come
DISDAINFUL Earth
Hooded in clouds and snowdrifts–
Great gray Earth,
That shivers and gathers her garments
Just for a space you lower your eyelids,
Just for a moment you turn me the cold of your shoulder.
There There Already –
Now I have caught you–
A turquoise rift in the rack,
That was relenting
And back of the pine-trees a flash like a smile,
That, O earth, was your promise
Below the depth of the frost
Is the warmth of your bosom.
The ice in your veins
Is troth to the rain and the runnel.
The catch in the call of the wind
Is your lip at my ear–
Your whisper of breezes,
Of breezes and blossom–
Of summer–of sweetness–of love
[Page 387]
The Cypress-Tree
OUT of the clod of earth
That holds me to this melancholy place,
As ancient servitors
Held flambeaux for their lords
In draughty corridors,
I leap into the sky.
I am a torch with an inherent blaze,
No winter bears me or my verdure down:
The whirling snow and ice
Fall on me to their peril, not to mine:
The swift and sudden wind
Deflects but can not quench
My everlasting fire,
My fire that mounts out of the cerecloth of the dead
And draws its essence from mortality,
Transmuting dissolution and despair
Into aspiring form–
A shape that is a symbol–
A pose prophetic
I am the Cypress-Tree men plant on graves,
And on their graves–I flame
The Chant of the Woman
CLASH the cymbals
String the harp and sound it–
Cymbals and harp, there, you Makers of Music
I will chant to my Comrade the chant of my being,
Woman to Man will I chant it.
I am as old as any. I too have a lineage.
I have come up by forms and through æons;
Forms of manifold fashion, æons of infinite dream.
I, too, am projected of Poets, offspring of the Singers:
I have lain in the womb of the World and incarnate its wonder–
I have played with the Child of the ages and captured its glee–
I have been kissed with the kisses of Kings–
Great Lovers have whispered their lore for my learning.
[Page 388]
Then and now and always, wide away and the length of a span,
I gather that I must gather, by impulse, election:
In me only is attraction,
It alone could attract me,
So am I myself, and none other,
Myself–a mystery a mouthpiece
Myself and yet yourself, we two inexplicably one–
Flesh in its consummation, Soul in its incompleteness–
And because of the incompleteness of Soul,
Woman to man,
I chant you the chant of my being.
I cannot live on the crumbs that fall from a Table:
I must be lifted,
Lifted level with my love and with my Lover.
I must be clothed with the purple, made free of the signet–
I must put my hand in his dish, my head on his bosom–
Eye to eye must we lean, loquacious together.
So, and so only
Can I give him to drink of the wine of my winning,
My strange new wine that seethes and bubbles.
So and so only
Can I kiss on his lips the message of Kings–
Whisper the wonder of Life,
The laugh of the Child–
The lore of the Lovers.
Level Level Level
Level with your lips and your eyes my Comrade,
Swing to the height of your heart,
Caught in your soul and kept there
Pervading and peerless
So, and so only, your Lover, your Servant:
Every passionate pulse-beat
Under the blue veins in my white wrist
Your Servant and Lover–
I cannot live on the crumbs that fall from a Table
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Residences: London Ontario, Faribault Minnesota, Northern Indiana, New York, Europe
Individual Notes
Note for: Susan May Blackburn, 20 AUG 1871 - OCT 1946
Index
Burial: Date: 7 OCT 1946
Place: Woodland Cemetary, London
Individual Notes
Note for: Patrick Arthur Bogue, ABT 1852 - ABT 1920
Index
Residence: Date: 1890
Place: Montreal, PQ, Canada
Individual Note: Need to research this family in the Montreal area
Individual Notes
Note for: Charles Vaughan, ABT 1850 -
Index
Residence: Place: Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada
Individual Note: Could this be them from the 1881 census? The birth year and province of Sarah matches. The census place is in Manitoba, however at Josiahs funeral, they are listed as being from Sioux lookout, not too far away.
Household:
Name Marital Status Gender Ethnic Origin Age Birthplace Occupation Religion
Amos VAUGHAN M Male Welsh 74 Quebec Surveyor Church of England
Nancy VAUGHAN M Female English 60 Quebec Church of England
Mary VAUGHAN Female Welsh 25 Quebec Church of England
Charles VAUGHAN M Male Welsh 27 Quebec Surveyor Church of England
Sarah VAUGHAN M Female English 28 O
Church of England
Source Information:
Census Place St Andrews, Lisgar, Manitoba
Family History Library Film 1375919
NA Film Number C-13283
District 185
Sub-district C
Division 2
Page Number 6
Household Number 32
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Individual Notes
Note for: Marion Billington, UNKNOWN - UNKNOWN Index
Individual Note:
from the London, Ontario 1901 Census. Could this be Marion Billington? Seems likely. AND the birth dates of the daughters fit the narrow timespan before Josiah died.
Name Birthplace Birthdate Immigration Rel to Head
Marion Blackburn Ontario Nov 2, 1859 - Head
Ena Blackburn Ontario Aug 31, 1887 - Daughter
Ina Blackburn Ontario Jan 4, 1889 - Daughter
Film: T-6480
Ward: 4
Div: 2
Page: 15
Entry: 16
Family: 131
Rel to Head: Head
Birthdate: Nov 2, 1859
Birthplace: Ontario
Immigration: -
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Individual Notes
Note for: John Blackburn, 1792 - 16 JUN 1855 Index
Occupation:
Date: BET 1822 AND 1855
Place: Pastor of Claremont Independent Chapel, Islington (1822-1835)
Occupation:
Date: BET 1815 AND 1822
Place: Pastor, Congregational church, Finchingfield, Essex
Residence:
Date: 1855
Place: 40, Holford Square, Pentonville, Islington, England (according to obituary)
Residence:
Place: 17, Holford Square, Amwell Street, Pentonville (according to business card)
Residence:
Date: 1791
Place: 40, Whitechapel
Residence:
Date: 1823
Place: 21, Rodney Street, St James Clerkenwell
Residence:
Date: 1837
Place: 11, Lloyd Street, Pentonville (according to "bindings and freedoms"
Residence:
Date: 1851
Place: 7 Burbon Crescent, borough of Marylebone, parish of St Pancras, Middlesex County
Event:
Type: Ethnicity/Relig.
Place: Congregationalist, Independant, "Dissenting"
Burial:
Date: ABT 22 JUN 1855
Place: Abney Park Cemetery, London, England
Individual Note:
Notes: by Tony Toledo
1. "A Century of Western Ontario" , pg 76 says that Rev John had 11 children. Note that only 9 are accounted for. Who are the other two? Charlotte Emma refers to a younger brother "Wee" in her diary. There is a time gap of babies between 1827 and 1832 in what we know currently. Additionally, "A history of the County of Middlesex" says that Stephen was his fourth son, yet by the christenings we know of, he was the fifth. This means that it is likely that his first son, "Joseph" died at an early age. It also means that there could be 3 children unaccounted for. The answer to the sibling questions should be found in the 1841 UK census.
2. Josiah was the first child christened outside of Essex. Rev. John and family may have moved from there to London around 1822 to take the position at Claremont Chapel, between the births of Robert and Josiah. It turns out that Finchingfield (where Joseph, John and Robert Jr were christened) and Beslyns (Sarah's dads estate in Great Bardfield) are within miles of each other in Essex, 60 miles northeast of London. John and Sarah must have lived at, or very near, Beslyns when they were in Essex. Rev John took the position at Claremont in 1822 (the church was built in 1819), so he was minister there for 33 years (not 35-50 years as is sometimes quoted).
3. According to Victoria Grace Blackburn, "On the paternal side, as the name indicates, Josiah Blackburn came of North Country folk, the Blackburns of Lancaster and of Yorkshire having sprung from one stock. His forebears were "church" people, the famous old pirate, Blackburn of York, who repented him of his sins, took orders and later became a prelate, and on account of his love for the violin is known as "the fiddling Bishop of York" in which guise- his fiddle under his chin- he has a place among the sculptures of York Minster, being a traditional though not an authentic ancestor. His own father [Rev. John Blackburn] upon personal conviction, joined the Independent Church and served that body with intellectual and oratorical brilliance during his 35 years pastorate of Claremont Chapel, Islington, London. At his Father's house in Islington Josiah Blackburn met men of distinction in all walks of life, the Rev. John Blackburn numbering among his acquaintances such men as Sir Benjamin West, the distinguished American painter, then President of the Royal Academy; the English poet laureate Robert Southey; Sir Henry Layard, archeologist, the excavator of Nineveh; and many others of kindred accomplishment. His full length portrait by the Royal Academician, Ewing, is still preserved in the central Congregationalist Hall, London. Other portraits by the subject's brother Samuel Blackburn, the portrait painter, together with several portrait engravings by the then royal engraver to the King of the Belgians, being in the possession of the Canadian branch of the family.
4. Moved a number of times, but generally stayed in London. See "facts" under Rev John Blackburn
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"When, on 12 Nov 1805, John was apprenticed to his father as a scalemaker, the family address was given as No 126, Minories. The same address was recorded on 2 Apr 1822 and again on 12 Apr 1831 when two other brothers, Peter and Isaac, formally terminated their apprenticeships as scalemakers. His son, also John, was legally bound until 7 March 1837 when he was "freed by patrimony". At that time he is described as a "Dissenting Minister, of No 11 Lloyd St, Pentonville"
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This is the result of research by our Australian Blackburns (courtesy of Joel Blackburn)...
BLACKBURN, JOHN:
Born In London - assumed to be in The Minories, where he lived later with his parents - In 1792: precise date not ascertained. Attended public worship at Jewry-street Chapel, where became a Sunday School teacher. (The Minories, now London, E.C.3, runs from Aldgate, opposite Houndsditch, to Royal Mint Street and Tower Hill. Jewry-street, formerly poor Jewry Lane, runs parallel to the Minories from Aldgate into Crutched Friars. The Meeting-house in Jewry Street was one of the ancient Dissenting causes in London, traditionally formed during the reign of, Charles 11 by the Rev. Timothy Cruso (d.1697), and continued nominally as Presbyterian until 1774 when the society was dissolved. The building, after being shut for a short time, was leased to new Society who re opened it in 1775. In an account of this church in Walter Wilson, Dissenting Meeting-houses in London, vol.1, pp.128 ff., 1808, he says "Though the-present minister professes himself an Independent, the people cannot with strict propriety be called Dissenters;... we have termed them Calvinistic Methodists" The ministers were William Aldridge 1776-1797; Richard Povah 1797-1801; John Ball 1801-8. Under one or more of these John Blackburn was probably reared. It is possible that the registers of this ancient society may contain an entry of his baptism (and possibly of birth) but their whereabouts is not known to me. They are not indexed as among the collection of Non-Parochial Registers in the custody of the Registrar General at Somerset House. There would seem to be no other way of determining exact date of birth - compulsory registration was not introduced until later. It will perhaps not be vital to trace this detail - though an entry of birth or baptism would doubtless give the names of his parents, not otherwise known.
He entered STEPNEY BAPTIST ACADEMY with a view to the ministry in that denomination, but a change in his views on Baptism caused him to retire and he was then admitted to HOXTON INDEPENDENT ACADEMY in 1811. At the close of his training he entered the service of the Irish Evangelical Society and for about two years (?) worked as an itinerant in Ireland. He then settled as the pastor of the Congregational Church at FINCHINGFIELD, Essex 1815-1822. "A small village was his sphere, but a large congregation was his charge. He devoted himself assiduously to the duties of his office, and prosecuted his studies with unremitting diligence, thus accumulating those vast stores of information respecting ecclesiastical and nonconforming history for which he was so distinguished." (Obituary notice, Congregational Year Book, 1856, p.209). In 1822 he was invited by Mr. Thomas Wilson, the outstanding Congregational layman of the period, who has recently erected a new cause at CLAREMONT CHAPEL, PENTONVILLE, LONDON, to become its first minister, and here he continued his ministry until death, 16 June 1855.
He was one of the prime movers in the formation of the CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES in 1831 and of which he was one of the Secretaries from 1834-47, in close co-operation with the Rev. Algernon Wells, who had been a neighbour in Essex and remained a close friend throughout life as well as co-secretary of the Union.
He collected a vast amount of information about Congregational Churches in all parts of Britain, and was the first real statistician of the denomination. The Blackburn MSS (Congregational Library) dealing especially with churches in Essex, formed the basis of the work of the Rev. T. W. Davids in his Annals of Evangelical Nonconformity in Essex, 1863.
From its formation in 1818, until 1845, he edited the CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE, in pages of which the first attempts were made to collate details of churches within each county Association and the Union, and to compile lists of accredited ministers. In this magazine he began in 1818 a 'Statistical View of Dissenters in England and Wales' setting out, county by county, a tabloid history of each church within the counties. Unfortunately this series, beginning with Berkshire in 1818 and continued to Devonshire in 1826, got no further through the alphabet, but Blackburn's MSS remain as a basis for county historians.
His work in this connexion, however, was developed in the CONGREGATIONAL CALENDAR, first issued in 1841 and continued until 1848, which Blackburn edited. This gave, year by year, lists of churches in each county and the names of their ministers, details of new buildings erected, ordinations, settlements and removals of ministers, and obituary notices on ministers deceased - features subsequently perpetuated in the CONGREGATIONAL YEAR BOOK, first issued in 1846, which took the place of the Congregational Calendar. Blackburn was responsible for the first two years' issues of the Year Book, 1846 and 1847, and gave it the form it has more or less preserved ever since. He did a large amount of other literary work - contributing fairly regularly to the Evangelical Magazine as well as to his own Congregational Magazine. He was one of the projectors of the Wycliffe Society, which published several volumes of early Nonconformist reprints, including the Works of John Robinson, edited by Robert Ashton in 3 vols in 1851. "A paper of his Congregational Colleges in 1844 contains more information than is to be found elsewhere" says Dr. Albert Peel (The Congregational Two Hundred, 1948, p.138 f.), adding "Congregationalism had few better minds …… and it is to be regretted that domestic and financial troubles caused a fine career to end under a cloud."
To the Congregational Year Book Blackburn contributed several very valuable papers: "The Wycliffe Society", 1846, p.23; "Denominational Statistics", 1846, p.61; "Ecclesiastical Architecture", 1847, p.150; "Historical Paper on Congregational Associations", 1846, p.81. He also published The True Character and Probable Results of American Revivals, 1830; Lecture on the Recent Revolutions in Europe, 1849, and some other minor works.
His obituary notice (C.Y.B., 1856, p.209) says, inter alia:
"To the task of raising a large and permanent congregation in this neighbourhood [Pentonville] he set himself with all earnestness, and in humble reliance on that gracious and almighty Saviour, who is both "Shepherd and Bishop of the souls" of men. His efforts were crowned with remarkable success, both in the numbers and devotedness, piety and liberality of his flock.
From this sphere of labour he did not depart till his dying day … His active and zealous spirit could not be satisfied with the ordinary routine of pastoral life; he took a lively interest and a large share in the benevolent enterprises of the day, both in his own immediate vicinity and throughout the country and the world, and especially in connexion with his own denomination. He was one of the projectors and secretaries of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. He was for some time [27 years] editor of the "Congregational Magazine", as also the originator and editor of the "Congregational Calendar", afterwards merged in the "Congregational Year Book", the first number of which was published in 1846; and of which number, as well as that of 1847, he was the sole editor. To him "The Christian Instruction Society" owes its existence. It was formed in 1825, and he was one of its secretaries for many years. In an early period of its existence he preached and published a discourse on "The Spiritual Claims of the Metropolis", which, for its accurate moral as well as statistical survey of London, awakened the attention of many to the religious wants of the city, and may be read with profit, even at the present hour. He edited and published several minor works during his lengthened ministry; and towards the close of life, having published a volume of lectures on Layard's Discoveries of Ninevah, he undertook the editorship of a useful Biblical manual on Christian evidences, antiquities, interpretation, &c., entitled "Biblical Educator".
His ministerial career is well known. He always lived in public. His preaching and speeches were ever heard with interest; though in voice and manner there was nothing attractive, yet the fullness and variety of his illustrations of every topic he handled, as well as the simplicity and fervour of his address, gave a charm to his discourse which very few persons could resist.
His personal and domestic trials were great, resulting, it is believed, in some degree from want of due regard to pecuniary responsibilities, embittered the latter years of his life, and led to his withdrawment from the more public duties he was accustomed to perform, and to the restriction of his labours to that portion of his flock who remained with him after a considerable secession had withdrawn to erect another sanctuary. He was gradually recovering from his pecuniary difficulties and emerging from his comparative obscurity to mingle with his ministerial friends and to assist at the meetings of religious societies when it pleased the "God of the spirits of all flesh" to lay him aside by affliction, and very speedily to remove him to His presence. The immediate cause of his death was gastric fever. His physical sufferings were severe, but his mind was preserved in perfect peace…. His last appearance in public was at his church meeting of the 1st June, and on the 16th day of that month [1855] he entered on his rest. His remains were deposited on Friday, the 22nd of June, in Abney Park Cemetery [Burial Number: 013744] ….."
There are a number of references to Blackburn in Albert Peel, These Hundred Years: A History of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. 1831-1931, 1931 (at pp. 26, 42, 46, 47, 49 50ff, 64, 66, 90, 92, 98, 112, 118, 122ff, 129, 143, 144, 155, 156, 158, 191, 197, 380, 411), largely covered by the foregoing, but adding some details of his work for the Congregational Union.
(p.42) "In 1826 the ministers of the Monthly Exercise, an institution already nearly a century old, circulated among the churches a letter signed by the Rev. James Stratten (Chairman) and John Blackburn (Secretary pro-tem.) suggesting the establishment of the "London Congregational Union"….
With Messrs Thomas and Joshua Wilson, he was one of the prime promoters of the Congregational Library, opened in 1831 in Bloomfield Street, Finsbury Circus, premises which became the official meeting place for many Union Assemblies and Committees for many years, until it was removed to the Memorial Hall in 1875.
He was one of the committee appointed in 1833 to produce The Congregational Hymn Book, edited by Josiah Condor and published in 1836. He was one of the founders of the Colonial Missionary Society (1836 - then officially designated 'The Colonial Committee of the Congregational Union'), formed largely in response to appeals from the Rev. F. Miller of Hobart Town, Tasmania [who was acquainted in Hobart with his brother James Blackburn], and others in Cape Town, Canada, etc.
Blackburn was also a member of the first Literature or Book Committee of the Union (1845) - later to develop into the present Independent Press Ltd. In 1844 he was sent with Henry Richard (later M.P.) as a deputation from the Congregational Union to the Churches in South Wales - the first serious attempt to establish liaison between the Union and its constituent associations and churches.
In 1840 and 1841 he had read papers to the Assemblies of the Union on "the State of the Ministry" and "The Validity of the Ministry as Exercised in Congregational Churches". (The first estimated that the denomination needed not less than 2,000 educated ministers ) In 1844 he read another paper on "The History, Position and Prosperity of the Independent Colleges" - a detailed survey of their history, product, curricula, advocating annual collections for them in the churches, and a central 'College Board' in London (not developed, like many other of his far-seeing ideals, until more than fifty years later). He was much concerned that too many students leaving colleges despised opportunities for pioneer evangelistic work and "rather dreamed of occupying rather pleasant pastoral spheres … instead of having to 'endure hardness' and to exercise rigid self-denial…"
Two other extracts may perhaps be copied:
(i) (i) JOHN STOUGHTON, DD. , Reminiscences of Congregationalism Fifty Years Ago, 1881, (A paper prepared for the Jubilee Meeting of the Congregational Union in that year), p.28, wrote:
"The prime mover in this step of advance [for the provision of a 'Denominational House'] and one of the early Secretaries of the Union was JOHN BLACKBURN. I see him now with his reddish hair, his bland countenance; I hear him now with his somewhat inharmonious but pathetic voice. He was a minister at Claremont Chapel, built by Mr. Wilson, and was fifty years ago in the zenith of his popularity, a popularity stronger in his own neighbourhood than in other parts of the country. He was a wonderful worker, a diligent pastor, editor of the Congregational Magazine, member of many and many a committee, and a frequent preacher and speaker for religious societies. Pecuniary difficulties, more through the fault of others than himself it is said, threw some cloud over his latter days; but I believe he was a truly Christian man, who warmly loved the Master and eminently served the cause. In the Congregational Library he took the greatest interest. He wrote for it, spoke on its behalf, and collected money towards its funds. That Congregational Library, a poor place compared with the Memorial Hall, was something to be proud of when I was young…"
(ii) JAMES BRANWHITE FRENCH, Walks in Abney Park, 1883 (originally published as a series of articles in the Evangelical Magazine in the preceding year):
"Passing the chapel, a little beyond it on the opposite side of the way, we came to the tomb of the REV. JOHN BLACKBURN, the first pastor of the Church assembling in Claremont Chapel, Pentonville, and who passed away June 16th, 1855, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. I recall him to mind distinctly, as one of the London ministers, not indeed standing in the front rank, yet not far behind it. He exercised an intelligent and affectionate ministry in a considerable congregation of well-to-do people, including some men of influence……He was ever forward in denomination enterprises, and as on of the projectors and first secretaries of the Congregational Union, as editor of the Congregational Magazine, as originator as well as editor of the Congregational Calendar, afterwards merged in the Year Book, whose earlier numbers he edited, he rendered valuable service……Clouds gathered around his later life, from which, however, he was emerging when death brought him to this grave. In spite of some grave mistakes into which he was led in pecuniary matters, John Blackburn was a good man and true. I remember the large-hearted John Binney standing up after his decease in the assembly of the Congregational Union, and telling how, when he heard of his illness, he had gone at once to see him, judging that he had long enough been deprived of the intercourse of his brethren; and that when he heard of his death he had resolved to attend his funeral, as a mark of respect. Peace to his memory "
He is mentioned in R.W. Dale, History of English Congregationalism, 1907, p.633, as one of the founders of the Society for Promoting Ecclesiastical Knowledge, 1829, with the footnote "Mr. Blackburn conducted The Congregational Magazine with great ability, and in the volumes which appeared under his editorship there is very much that is permanently interesting and valuable." (Other minor references at pp.589, 713, 723)
His involvement in the Bankruptcy Courts was stated to be occasioned mainly by heavy borrowing in order to establish his sons in life (see account of the judicial summing up, annexed).
He had four sons who were pupils at Mill Hill School, of whom, unfortunately, E. Hampden-Cook, Mill Hill School Register, 1807-1926, gives no details of careers. The entries are:
BLACKBURN, JOHN, admitted June 1831 - living 1855 (Father, Rev. John Blackburn, Claremont Chapel, Pentonville: Cloudesley Street, Islington, Congregational)
BLACKBURN, ROBERT, admitted same time: living 1856
BLACKBURN, JOSIAH, admitted same time: living 1858
BLACKBURN, STEPHEN, ADMITTED September 1840; born 6.8.1826, left the school December 1842; married 26.9.1857; died Glencoe, Ontario, 19.5.1911. Co-editor with John or Josiah Blackburn, above, of the Free Press, London, Ontario, Canada: for 39 years Registrar of Deeds for West Riding, Middlesex, Ontario.
(I venture a conjecture that ARTHUR VERNON BLACKBURN, ADMITTED TO Mill Hill School, 1920, son of Hudson Blackburn, 'Claremont', Heckmondwike, Yorkshire, Woollen manufacturer, born 7.1.1907, left school December 1923, to enter his father's business, was probably a great grandson: the address 'Claremont" Heckmondwike is strangely significant There might be connexions in Heckmondwike still, which could be followed up, if required).
At least two of the sons evidently became paper manufacturers. They could be traced, and the full legal proceedings found by search of the contemporary law reports, if required.
CASE OF THE REV. JOHN BLACKBURN
In the Maidstone County Court, in the County of Kent,
Tuesday November 6, 1849
Before James Espinasse Esq.
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Making research more challenging, there were at least two Rev. John Blackburns alive at the time. The other one lived in Attercliffe, Yorkshire, just east of Sheffield. This Blackburn is Rev. John Blackburn, M.A., who also has some association with the Isle of Wight (or perhaps a 3rd Rev John Blackburn?). But, given that the Blackburns originated in Yorkshire, I include the following descriptions in case these two Reverends are somehow related...
"ATTERCLIFFE, is a considerable village, in the township of Attercliffe with Darnall, and parish of Sheffield, situate on the road leading to Rotherham and Doncaster, one mile and a half east from the Market place in Sheffield -- the manufactures of the place being of the same character as those of that town. In 1822 a handsome church was erected here, by grant from the parliamentary commissioners. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar of Sheffield : the Rev. John Blackburn is the present incumbent. The other places of worship are for calvinists and Wesleyan methodists. Population of the township at the last census, 3,741 persons."
A similar description from 1852...
"ATTERCLIFFE, the largest village in the parish of Sheffield, is on the Doncaster and Worksop roads, 1½ mile E. of the Market place. It is about three quarters of a mile in length, and many of its inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of pen and pocket knives, scissors, anvils, scythes, spades, shovels, cast steel, &c. The old chapel of ease, at the eastern extremity of the village, was built in 1629; but it is now only used for sepulchral purposes, having an extensive burial ground. The inhabitant now assemble for divine worship in Christ Church, a handsome Gothic fabric, with lancet windows, a profusion of stained glass, and a handsomely groined roof. This church, built at the expence of £14,000, granted by Parliament, stands near the bold cliff which overhangs the Don, and is said to have been formerly the resort of otters, from which circumstance the village had its name. The first stone was laid by the Duke of Norfolk, assisted by Earl Fitzwilliam, on Oct. 30, 1822; and the church was opened July 26th, 1826. Attercliffe Ecclesiastical District comprises the village and suburbs of Attercliffe, which comprise about 3000 inhabitants, and are rapidly encreasing; many new houses have been erected during the past year. The perpetual curacy, valued in 1831, at £180, is in the patronage of the Vicar, and incumbency of the Rev. John Blackburn, A. M. who is a canon of York, and has held the benefice 35 years. The Independents and Methodists have each a chapel in the village, erected about 1803, but enlarged and mostly rebuilt in 1824 and 1832. The Town School, was built by subscription, about 1779; and the master has, for teaching a Sunday School, £3. 3s. yearly, from the bequest of Robert Clay, Esq., in 1786, and £ 13. 9s. 6d. yearly from £449. 3s. 4d three per cent. stock, purchased with £300 left by Mrs. Elizabeth Fell, in 1795. The Church Schools were enlarged in 1841 and 1849, and are now attended by more than 300 boys, girls, and infants. The poor have several small benefactions; and at Darnall are four almshouses, with an allowance of 21s. and a load of coals yearly to each inmate, from Mr. Staniforth, of Liverpool. The four old almshouses in Attercliffe, anciently the town school, were rebuilt by the overseers, in 1836, at the cost of about £170."
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Here is an account of our Rev John Blackburn...
"On Lord's-day, September 10 (1854), I went with my relatives to Claremont Chapel, and attended the morning session of the Sunday-school. The school assembled in a large room at the back of the chapel, and this room was divided into two compartments--one for the boys and one for the girls--by means of a wooden partition about three feet high, above which was a curtain on rollers. During the devotional exercises at the commencement and close of the school the curtains were rolled up, and when the teaching began they were let down at a given signal. The teachers' seats consisted of a small chest, on feet, in which were deposited books, etc., the lid forming the seat when the chest was closed. I was invited to take a class; and, complying, found the boys fairly instructed in the Scriptures. After the school I attended the service in the chapel, a neat and commodious building with upper and lower galleries. The pastor (Rev. J. Blackburn) conducted the service, which appeared to me rather long. In the afternoon I again attended the Sunday-school, by invitation of the superintendent; and was favorably impressed with the discipline and order maintained. In the evening my cousin took me to the Church of England service in Regent Square, and I heard again the Liturgy I had been so familiar with; but which had now lost its charms for me."
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[old description of...] PENTONVILLE, a suburban district of London and chapelry in the parish of Clerkenwell, Finsbury division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county Middlesex, 1½ mile N.E. of St. Paul's.
It lies between the Angel at Islington and Battle Bridge on both sides of the New-road, and occupies the site of a farm given by the Mandevilles to Clerkenwell nunnery. It was founded by the Pentons, from whom it takes its name, between 1773 and 1780, and now constitutes one of the most populous suburbs of the metropolis, having a population of near 10,000. There are situated the London Female Penitentiary, founded in 1807, the government model prison in the Caledonian-road, built in 1842 at a cost of £84,000, for 1,000 convicts, and White Conduit House. The living is a perpetual curacy with Christ Church, in the diocese of London, value £300, in the patronage of the Incumbent of Clerkenwell. The chapel, dedicated to St. James, was erected in 1788, by Hurst, and contains the altar-piece, by Fearon, "Christ Raising Jairus' Daughter." There is also the district church of St. Mark, situated in Myddelton-square, which is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of London, value £535, in the patronage of the bishop. The church was erected in 1828, at a cost of £16,000. There is, besides, Claremont Independent chapel, erected in 1819.
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A book written in 1846 with some commentary by Our Rev. John was printed by the firm of "Blackburn and Pardon, Printers, 6, Hatton Garden, London"
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A portrait of the Rev John, by Ewing, is at the Central Congregationalist Hall, London
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Letter from Joel Blackburn of Australia...
Dear Tony, Greetings from "down-under". Hope you are well. While trawling the net tonight I discovered that the collected correspondence of Rev John Blackburn (1791-1855), covering the years 1800-1855, is lodged at Dr Williams Library in London. The following information is cut and pasted straight from the screen:
GB/NNAF/P2625
Blackburn, John (1791-1855) Congregational Minister
1 record noted:
Scope 1800-53: corresp (5 vols)
Repository Dr Williams's Library
Record Reference L52/1-6
NRA catalogue reference NRA 13042 London New Coll
Other reference see HMC Papers of British churchmen 1780-1940, 1987
Dr Williams's Library
Archon Code : 123
Contact Details
14 Gordon Square
London
WC1H 0AR
England
Tel: 020 7387 3727
Email: enquiries@@DWLib.co.uk
Website: http://www.dwlib.co.uk/dwlib/
Online map: streetmap
Director : Dr DL Wykes
Access information
Open : M,W,F 10-5, T,Th 10-6.30
I feel sure that an examination of these letters would reveal a mine of information. It may be possible to have the correspondence photocopied although, obviously, a personal examination of the material would be preferable, first.
I have emailed an enquiry to Dr Williams's Library, and will let you know the result.
Best wishes, Joel.
PS I have been in touch with Allan Blackburn of Queensland, Australia who I met via your website.
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