David Blair (encyclopedist)
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David Blair (4 June 1820 – 19 February 1899) was an Irish Australian politician, journalist and
encyclopedist An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ( ...
.


Background

David Blair was born in County Monaghan, Ireland to parents of
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
descent. He studied at the Hibernian Military School, Dublin. He left in 1835, aged 15 years and worked in an uncle's business but did not enjoy it. In 1840 he joined the
Ordnance Survey of Ireland Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ga, Suirbhéireacht Ordanáis Éireann) is the national mapping agency of Ireland. It was established on 4 March 2002 as a body corporate. It is the successor to the former Ordnance Survey of Ireland. It and the ...
as a
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stationed in Limerick and then
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. He transferred to Southampton in 1841 and for almost nine years he worked on the triangulation of England and the survey of London.


Chartism

Blair was unsatisfied in his work, even speculating in 1848 on a military career, and found expression in supporting the Chartists as a lecturer in Southampton, in reading and in church activities.


Australia

He later studied for the ministry in Ireland and came to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 1850 at the suggestion of
John Dunmore Lang John Dunmore Lang (25 August 1799 – 8 August 1878) was a Scottish-born Australian Presbyterian minister, writer, historian, politician and activist. He was the first prominent advocate of an independent Australian nation and of Australian re ...
, the intention being that he should go into the back country as a missionary. He took up journalism in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, where he was associated with Henry Parkes on the ''Empire'' newspaper. Blair went to Victoria in 1852 and had a long and varied career as a journalist, including a long stint as leader writer for '' The Age'' and as a contributor to ''
Victorian Review ''Victorian Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Victorian Studies'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Victorian studies, which is published by the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada. It was established in 197 ...
''. Blair was elected a member of the
legislative assembly of Victoria The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...
in 1856 and again in 1868, but did not make any special mark in politics. In 1876 he edited the ''Speeches of Henry Parkes'', and in 1878 or 1879 he published the important ''The History of Australasia--to the Establishment of Self-Government'', based largely on the works of his predecessors, and ''Cyclopedia of Australasia'' (1881). He also wrote ''The First Imaginary Voyage to Australia'' (1882). He died at Melbourne on 19 February 1899, aged 78.


Family

Blair's daughter Florence Blair has been noted as a fine writer, having on occasion contributed articles for her father when he was indisposed. In September 1896 she replaced the dangerously ill Ida Wildman ("Sappho Smith") as editor of ''
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s Women's pages.


References


Sources

* *J. I. Roe,
Blair, David (1820 - 1899)
, ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Volume 3, MUP, 1969, pp 179–180. *E. Morris Miller & Frederick T. Macartney (1956), ''Australian Literature'', Sydney, Angus & Robertson, p. 64.


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, David 1820 births 1899 deaths Politicians from County Monaghan Chartists Australian people of Scottish descent Victoria (state) state politicians Irish encyclopedists Irish emigrants to colonial Australia 19th-century Australian journalists The Age (Melbourne) people 19th-century Australian male writers Australian encyclopedists Australian male journalists