John Erasmus Blackett (1 January 1729 – 11 June 1814) was a Newcastle upon Tyne businessman and Mayor of Newcastle after whom Blackett Street in central

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

is named. He was the father-in-law of Admiral Lord Collingwood, second-in-command to

Lord Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...

at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

. Blackett was born in Newcastle on 1 January 1728/9, a younger son of John Blackett (1683-1750) and Patience Wise, the daughter of Henry Wise, and a grandson of Sir Edward Blackett, 2nd Bt. He was named after a close friend of his father, Erasmus Lewis, secretary to

Lord Oxford Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half centuries, until the death of the 20th Earl in 1703. ...

. After serving an apprenticeship in Liverpool under major Liverpool slave trader Foster Cunliffe, he became a partner in a Newcastle coal dealership and was for some years steward of the lead mines of his 2nd cousin Sir Walter Blackett. He was one of the original partners of the Newcastle upon Tyne Fire Office, now part of

Aviva plc Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

. He was prominent in Newcastle public life, becoming an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

and serving as Mayor four times (in 1765, 1772, 1780 and 1790). He was manager of his cousin’s estate at Wallington Hall in Northumberland, importing slave-produced Jamaican rum. John Erasmus Blackett died in Newcastle on 11 June 1814 and is buried in St. Nicholas's Church. In 1761 he had married Sarah Roddam and in 1791 their daughter Sarah married

Cuthbert Collingwood Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (26 September 1748 – 7 March 1810) was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Lord Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, and frequently as ...

, a Royal Navy officer who in 1805, as Vice Admiral Collingwood, was second-in-command to

at the

. More than ten years after his death, his name was given to Blackett Street, constructed as part of the redevelopment of

Grainger Town Grainger Town is the historic commercial centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Incorporating classical streets built by Richard Grainger, a builder and developer, between 1824 and 1841, some of Newcastle's finest buildings and streets lie w ...

, in the centre of Newcastle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackett, John Erasmus 1729 births 1814 deaths History of Newcastle upon Tyne 18th-century merchants Mayors of Newcastle upon Tyne