Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake, (23 December 1916 – 20 September 2003), was an
English historian and
peer. He is best known for his 1966 biography of
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
, and for ''The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill'', which grew out of his 1968
Ford lectures.
Early life
Robert Blake was born in
Brundall,
Norwich, the elder son of William Joseph Blake, a schoolmaster, and of Norah Lindley Blake, (''née'' Daynes), the daughter of a leading Norwich solicitor.
The family firm was Daynes, Hill & Perks, subsequently acquired by
Eversheds. He was said to be related to Admiral
Robert Blake, of the
Parliamentary navy.
Blake was educated at a
dame school in Brundall, King Edward VI's
Norwich School, where his father taught History, and
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, where he was an
Eldon Law Scholar. He graduated from Oxford with a First in
Modern Greats and a hockey
Blue. One of his contemporaries at Oxford was
Keith Joseph
Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, (17 January 1918 – 10 December 1994), known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician, intellectual and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party, he ...
.
Blake had planned to go 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 ...
. However, when the
Second World War broke out he was commissioned into the
Royal Artillery, turning down an offer from a friend to join
MI5. He was taken prisoner in
Tobruk in 1942, escaped from Italy in 1944, and was
mentioned in despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
. He worked for
MI6 from 1944 to 1946, where he was a colleague of
Kim Philby.
Academic career
In 1947 he became a student (fellow) and tutor in Politics at
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
, replacing
Lord Pakenham
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...
, who had joined
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
's government. His first work was an edition of the papers of
Douglas Haig, which did much to restore Haig's reputation. It was followed by a biography of
Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...
, written at the invitation of
Lord Beaverbrook
William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...
, Law's executor.
Blake's most famous work is his 1966 ''Disraeli'', a biography of
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
, which has been variously described as "the best single-volume biography of any British prime minister" and "the best biography of anyone in any language".
He was elected a
Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
the following year.
Having abandoned a project for a biography of Lord Derby, in 1970 he published ''The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill'', a general history of the Conservative Party based on his 1968
Ford Lectures. The work was later extended to cover the period up to the premiership of
Margaret Thatcher and, later, that of
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
.
In 1968 he was elected provost of
The Queen's College, Oxford, a post he retained until retirement in 1987. On 17 May 1971, on the recommendation of
Edward Heath, Blake was created a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Blake, of Braydeston in the
County of Norfolk. In the
House of Lords he took the Conservative whip. In 1972 he moved the address in reply to the
Queen's Speech
A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or a representative thereof, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a Legislative session, session is ...
.
His ''History of Rhodesia'' (1978) is, according to
Kenneth O. Morgan, "essentially a study of white rule, ending with sharp comments on the illegal breakaway regime of Ian Smith, where Blake's views were much influenced by his friendship with the liberal
Garfield Todd
Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (13 July 1908 – 13 October 2002) was a liberal Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia.
Background
T ...
and his daughter".
It makes interesting reading in conjunction with the less critical ''Sunrise on the Zambezi'' (1953).
In 1987 Lord Blake was nominated in the
election for the Oxford Chancellorship, but lost to
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...
, although polling ahead of former Conservative Prime Minister
Edward Heath. Blake was hurt by the fact that the Cabinet had decided to endorse Heath, and became withdrawn from Oxford.
In 1990 he was one of the leading historians behind the setting up of the History Curriculum Association. The Association advocated a more knowledge-based history curriculum in schools. It expressed "profound disquiet" at the way history was being taught in the classroom and observed that the integrity of history was threatened.
In 1992 Blake gave the centenary
Romanes Lecture on "Gladstone, Disraeli and Queen Victoria".
Blake was for many years Senior Member (the University don responsible for ruling on internal disputes such as accusations of electoral malpractice) of the
Oxford University Conservative Association.
Politics
Concomitant with his study of Conservative history, Blake was a political Conservative, and took the Conservative whip in the House of Lords. He defended the British government during the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
and in later life was a
Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...
.
He was, however, a supporter of
proportional representation, and served as the Chairman of the
Electoral Reform Society.
He also rebelled over the
War Crimes Bill.
Blake opposed the Labour Party's policy to abolish the hereditary peers in the House of Lords. Writing the year before the
1997 general election, he commented:
"Abolition of the hereditary vote...is alleged to be phase one of a policy to substitute an elective Upper House for the existing chamber. Meanwhile we would have the biggest quango of all time: a House whose members would owe their seats solely to past or present prime ministerial patronage. Even as an interim measure, this would be thoroughly undesirable, and certainly no improvement on the present composition. The hereditary system, whatever its logical defects, does produce some people of independent opinions and also some who are much younger than the normal run of middle-aged legislators...My guess is that after achieving stage one, which would involve a great deal of parliamentary time and much controversy, a Labour Cabinet would rest on its oars and postpone for many years any plans for an elective chamber. There are immense difficulties involved – its powers, electoral system, and above all relations with the Commons, which would certainly resent the creation of a body with rival claims to democratic legitimacy."
Blake was a Conservative member of
Oxford City Council from 1957 to 1964.
Other activities and honours
Lord Blake served as a Trustee of the
Rhodes Trust from 1971 to 1987, and as Chair of the Rhodes Trustees from 1983 to 1987.
He was editor of the ''
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', a Trustee of the
British Museum, and Chairman of the
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (widely known as the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and abbreviated as the HMC to distinguish it from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England), was a United Kingdom Royal Com ...
. He was High Bailiff and Searcher of the Sanctuary of
Westminster Abbey between 1988 and 1989, and
High Steward of Westminster Abbey from 1989 to 1999.
Blake was a Director of
Channel 4 Television.
Portraits of Lord Blake hang at
The Queen's College, Oxford and at
Rhodes House, Oxford.
Family
Blake married Patricia Mary Waters (1925–1995), the daughter of a Norfolk farmer, on 22 August 1953;
Hugh Trevor-Roper was the best man. They had three daughters. One daughter, Letita, is the Secretary of the
Monte San Martino Trust, which awards English-language study bursaries to young Italians in recognition of assistance offered to thousands of escaping Allied
prisoners-of-war during the
Second World War, such as Blake. Another daughter, Victoria, is a crime novelist.
Works
*''The Private Papers of Douglas Haig'' (1952) (Editor)
*''The Unknown Prime Minister. The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law, 1858–1923'' (1955).
*''Disraeli'' (1966).
*''Disraeli and Gladstone'' (1969) (Stephen Lecture).
*''The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill'' (1970) (later revised and updated as ''The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher'', then again as ''The Conservative Party from Peel to Major'').
*''The Office of Prime Minister'' (1975).
*''Conservatism in an Age of Revolution'' (1976).
*''History of Rhodesia'' (1977).
*''Disraeli's Grand Tour: Benjamin Disraeli and the Holy Land, 1830–31'' (1982).
*''The English World'' (1982)
*''The Decline of Power, 1915–1964'' (1985) (part of ''The Paladin History of England'' series).
*''An Incongruous Partnership: Lloyd George and Bonar Law'' (1992) (The Welsh Political Archive Lecture).
*''Gladstone, Disraeli and Queen Victoria. Centenary Romanes Lecture'' (1993).
*''Churchill: A Major New Assessment of His Life in Peace and War'' (1993) (edited with
Wm Roger Louis
William Roger Louis CBE FBA (born May 8, 1936), commonly known as Wm. Roger Louis or, informally, Roger Louis, is an American historian and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Louis is the editor-in-chief of ''The Oxford History o ...
).
*''Winston Churchill'' (1998).
*''Jardine Matheson. Traders of the Far East'' (1999).
References
External links
"Lord Blake" Fellows Remembered,
The Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...
Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Robert Norman William Blake (1916-2003), Baron Blake of Braydeston*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Robert
1916 births
2003 deaths
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Royal Artillery officers
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford
People educated at Norwich School
British Army personnel of World War II
20th-century English historians
Fellows of the British Academy
Provosts of The Queen's College, Oxford
British biographers
People from Brundall
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
English justices of the peace
British World War II prisoners of war
World War II prisoners of war held by Italy
Escapees from Italian detention
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Military personnel from Norfolk