: ''For the Australian poet, see

John Blight Frederick John Blight (30 July 1913 – 12 May 1995) was an Australian poet of Cornish origin, his ancestors having arrived in South Australia on the ''Lisander'', in 1851. In the 1987 recording ''John Blight'', he describes his Cornish backgro ...

.'' John Thomas Blight FSA (27 October 1835 – 23 January 1911) was a Cornish archaeological artist born near Redruth in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK. His father, Robert, a teacher, moved the family to Penzance and introduced his sons to the study of nature, antiquities and folk lore. John Blight was a natural draughtsman. By the age of 20, Blight had published a book on the antiquities of

Penwith Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after ...

and a large collection of drawings. His expansion of this work, in two volumes, was at first encouraged by Rev. R. S. Hawker and then the cause of a great quarrel. John Blight's second patron, James Halliwell, was similarly unhelpful, never paying him for his vast labour in illustrating Halliwell's projected edition of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''Works''. In the mid-1860s, Blight had a mental breakdown and was incarcerated for the remainder of his life in Bodmin Mental Asylum. Blight's recording of Cornish antiquities includes many that no longer exist. His descriptions and illustrations of them provide a most valuable source for archaeologists and local historians.

Major works

* ''Ancient Crosses and Other Antiquities in the East of Cornwall'' 3rd ed. (1872)
''Ancient Crosses and Other Antiquities in the West of Cornwall''
(1856)
2nd edition 1858
A reprint is offered online a

(3rd ed. Penzance: W. Cornish, 1872) (facsimile ed. reproducing 1856 ed.: ''Blight's Cornish Crosses''; Penzance : Oakmagic Publications, 1997)
''A Week at the Land's End''
(1861) (Facsimile ed. of 2nd ed published Truro: Lake and Lake, 1876: Alison Hodge, 1989)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blight, John Thomas 1835 births 1911 deaths People from Penzance Archaeologists from Cornwall Artists from Cornwall 19th-century antiquarians 20th-century antiquarians English antiquarians Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London 19th-century English historians 20th-century English historians

Major works

References

Further reading

External links