Sir Ernley Robertson Hay Blackwell (6 June 1868 – 21 September 1941) was a British lawyer and career civil servant. As chief legal advisor to the Cabinet, Blackwell was involved in the prosecution of

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

, and authorised the circulation of his disputed ''

Black Diaries The ''Black Diaries'' are diaries purported to have been written by the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement, which contained accounts of homosexual liaisons with young men. They cover the years 1903, 1910 and 1911 (two) and were handed in to Sco ...

''.Lucy McDiarmid, The Posthumous Life of Roger Casement in ''Gender and Sexuality in Modern Ireland'',

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, 1997''The black diaries: an account of Roger Casement's life and times,'' P Singleton-Gates, M Girodias – 1959 – Grove Press

Early life

Blackwell was born on 6 June 1868 in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland, the youngest son of Surgeon-Major James Hay Blackwell, H.E.I.C.S.,The Times, London, 23 September 1941 (Deaths) and his wife, Eliza Jane Robertson (a daughter of Andrew Robertson (d. 1868), of the Madras Civil Service, a member of a Scots gentry family; from whom Blackwell derived descent from the Royal Houses of Plantagenet, Bruce, and Stewart ) of 3, Gillespie terrace, St Andrews. Blackwell was educated at

Trinity College, Glenalmond Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. T ...

, where, as captain of school, he early displayed leadership skills, combining these with sporting prowess, as captain of the 1st XI (

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

), 1st XV (

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

), and of the golf team.

Law career

Destined for the legal profession, Blackwell was called to the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

from the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1892. Subsequently, he spent his career in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

as a member of the British

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, rising to senior appointments, first as Assistant Secretary at the Home Department from 1906 to 1913, and then as Legal Assistant

Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister o ...

at the Home Office from 1913 until his retirement in 1933. He was awarded CB in the

1911 Coronation Honours The Coronation Honours 1911 for the British Empire were announced on 19 June 1911, to celebrate the coronation of George V which was held on 22 June 1911. The honours were covered in the press at the time, including in ''The Times'' on 20 June 19 ...

. As chief legal advisor to the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, Blackwell was involved in the prosecution of

, and authorised the circulation of his disputed ''

'', advising the Cabinet in July 1916: In 1918, due to worries over the large number of firearms left in private hands following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and the concern that they would be used by "savage or semi-civilised tribesmen in outlying parts of the British Empire" or by an "anarchist or intellectual malcontent of the great cities whose weapons are the bomb and the automatic pistol", a ''Committee on Firearms Control'' was struck with Blackwell as its chairman. The report it issued recommended "stringent regulation" of rifles and small arms as "the number of persons who can urge any reasonable ground for possession of a revolver or pistol is extremely small ndthe danger attending the indiscriminate possession of such weapons is obvious", conclusions which led to the passage of the

Firearms Act 1920 A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

Later life

Following his retirement, Blackwell's continued interest in legal matters was shown by his 1934 appointment as chairman of the statutory committee of Britain's Pharmaceutical Society, to which he had been elected an honorary member in 1928. He exercised that position until 1939. Among other interests, he was a first-class golfer who captained

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

in 1933. He served as the first president of The Civil Service Golfing Society from 1922 until his death. In 1924, the Club instituted ''The Sir Ernley Blackwell Trophy'', which it still awards. He was also a member of the Zoological Society from 1914. His brother,

Edward Blackwell Edward Baird Hay Blackwell (21 July 1866 – 22 June 1945) was a Scottish amateur golfer who played in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and finished in second place in the 1 ...

, who was also a skilled golfer, placed second in the 1904

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

Family

Blackwell was married at the age of 69 to Kitty, ''Lady Blackwell'', of 7, Hay Hill, London, W.1, who survived him. There were no children of this union.

Death

Blackwell died at

Radlett Radlett is a village in Hertfordshire, England, between Elstree and St Albans on Watling Street, with a population of 8,042. It is in the council district of Hertsmere in the south of the county, and is covered by two wards; Aldenham East and ...

, Hertfordshire, England on 21 September 1941, aged 73. He was buried in the Blackwell family grave in St Andrews Eastern Cemetery, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.date and place of death=The Times, London, 23 September 1941, (Deaths)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Ernley Civil servants in the Home Office Members of HM Government Legal Service Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Glenalmond College 1868 births 1941 deaths People from St Andrews