Sir Valentine Blake, 3rd Baronet (died 1652) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

merchant and politician.

Biography

Blake was the eldest of three sons of Sir Thomas Blake and Juliane, daughter of Geoffrey Browne. He was admitted to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

on 19 July 1628, was knighted on 3 October 1629, and sat in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

of 1634–35 as MP either for

Tuam Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bron ...

or Galway county. He was a member of Galway's town council by 1638 and is listed as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in 1641. He succeeded his father the following year. Elected MP for Galway Borough in 1639, Blake was expelled from the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

in June 1642 for association with the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...

. This was a result of his activities in Galway early in the year, which included aiding the amassing of a military force to oppose the British garrison at Forthill, overlooking the town. He served as Mayor from 1643–44 and was a highly active member of the

Irish Confederation The Irish Confederation was an Irish nationalist independence movement, established on 13 January 1847 by members of the Young Ireland movement who had seceded from Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association. Historian T. W. Moody described it as "th ...

. He supported the

Ormonde Ormonde is a surname occurring in Portugal (mainly Azores), Brazil, England, and United States. It may refer to: People * Ann Ormonde (born 1935), an Irish politician * James Ormond or Ormonde (c. 1418–1497), the illegitimate son of John Butl ...

peace treaties of 1646 and 1649. He and Sir Richard Blake of Ardfry were captured by the soldiers of

Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill (Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary in the Spanish ...

in June 1648 but were released unharmed. He was one of the Galwegians who supported negotiations to secure aid from

Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine Charles IV (5 April 1604, Nancy – 18 September 1675, Allenbach) was Duke of Lorraine from 1624 until his death in 1675, with a brief interruption in 1634, when he abdicated under French pressure in favor of his younger brother, Nicholas Franc ...

, in 1651. This was to no avail and he was one of the six townsmen who signed the articles of surrender of the town on 5 April 1652. His will was proved in April 1654, and he was buried in the Loretto chapel of St. Francis's abbey, Galway. With his wife, Eleanor, third daughter of Sir Henry Lynch, he had four sons and three daughters. Much of the family property was confiscated by the Cromwellian government but substantially restored to the following generation. The family remained of note as local landowners and politicians into the 20th century. The current holder of the title is Sir Anthony Teilo Bruce Blake, 18th Baronet, born in 1951.

References

* ''History of Galway'',

James Hardiman James Hardiman (1782–1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, was a librarian at Queen's College, Galway. Hardiman is best remembered for his '' History of the Town and County of Galway'' (1820) and '' Irish Minstrelsy'' (1831), one of the f ...

, 1820. * ''Old Galway'',

Maureen Donovan O'Sullivan Mary Josephine Donovan O'Sullivan was Professor of History at Queens College, Galway (now NUI Galway) from 1914 to 1957. Biography One of ten children, four of whom survived infancy, Donovan was born at Fair Hill Road in Galway on 24 November ...

, Oxford, 1942. * ''Roll of Honour: The Mayors of Galway'', William Henry, Galway, 2002. * ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', p. 590, Cambridge, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Sir Thomas Politicians from County Galway Mayors of Galway People of the Irish Confederate Wars Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Galway constituencies Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland Irish MPs 1634–1635 Irish MPs 1639–1649 17th-century Irish politicians Irish merchants