William Blakeney, 1st Baron Blakeney

Lieutenant General Sir William Blakeney (7 September 1672 – 20 September 1761) was an Irish-born British army officer whose active military service began in 1695 and ended in 1756. In addition to being a tough, reliable and courageous soldier, Blakeney also had a reputation for an innovative approach to weapons drill and training. From 1727 to 1757, he was Member of Parliament for his local constituency of Kilmallock, Ireland, although often absent.

During the Jacobite rising of 1745, he successfully held Stirling Castle and was rewarded by being appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the British-held island of Menorca in 1748. In April 1756, the French besieged the island in the opening battle of the Seven Years' War and the garrison forced to surrender after a siege of 70 days. The British admiral John Byng was later court-martialled and shot for failing to relieve him but Blakeney was made a baronet and Knight Companion of the Bath in recognition of his resolute defence.

This ended his military career and he retired to his home in County Limerick, Ireland; he died there in September 1761 and later buried in Westminster Abbey. He never married and the title became extinct on his death.

Life
William Blakeney was born on 7 September 1672, eldest child of William (1640-1718) and Elizabeth Blakeney (1652-1710). His siblings included Robert (died 1763), Charles (1674-1741), John (1696-1720), Mary (ca 1678-?), Catherine (1680-?) and Elizabeth (died 1740).

Originally from Norfolk in England, the Blakeneys owned lands in Castleblakeney, County Galway and supplied the MP for Athenry and High Sheriff of County Galway for over a century. After the 1649 to 1653 Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, his grandfather William (1627-1664) was granted additional estates in County Limerick, known as Mount Blakeney. Following the 1662 Act of Settlement their ownership was confirmed by Charles II in 1666.

As the eldest child, Blakeney inherited his father's property but reputedly lived on his military pay and allowed his brothers use of the family estate. He never married and on his death the property passed to Major Robert Blakeney, his younger brother.

Career

In March 1689, the exiled James II landed in Ireland to regain his throne, leading to the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War. Blakeney remained at Mount Blakeney to defend their estates against raids by Irish irregulars or Rapparees, while the rest of his family relocated to Castleblakeney.

His uncle George Blakeney (ca 1660-1728) was serving in Flanders as a captain in Northcote's Regiment of Foot and it appears Blakeney joined him, initially as a volunteer. He was wounded at Namur on 31 August 1695, in the attack on the Terra Nova earthwork that allegedly inspired the song 'The British Grenadiers.' In September, he was commissioned as an ensign in Hamilton's Regiment of Foot, which William III retitled 'The Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland' in recognition of its role in the assault.

Placed on half-pay when the army was reduced following the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Blakeney rejoined his regiment in 1701 when the War of the Spanish Succession began. Between 1702 and 1706, he fought at Schellenberg, Blenheim and Ramillies, as well as numerous minor actions and sieges; by April 1707, he was a captain, with the brevet rank of major. 

In March 1709, he was commissioned into the Foot Guards; this did not imply service, since only 16 of its nominal 24 companies were actually formed and Blakeney remained with his original unit. Under the practice known as double-ranking, Guards officers held a second, higher army rank; for example, a Guards Lieutenant ranked as an army Major. This gave the holder precedence in deciding promotions, while Guards units were rarely disbanded, making it a cost-free way of rewarding competent but poor officers. John Huske (1692-1761), a colleague during the 1745 Rebellion, was commissioned in the Guards for similar reasons.

The Royal Regiment of Foot escaped disbandment after the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht and when George Blakeney retired from the 31st Foot in 1718, he assigned his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel to his nephew. Blakeney retained this position for the next 20 years; some biographers suggest he was deliberately held back but promotion in this period was slow for all officers. He became Colonel of the 27th Foot in 1737, with the support of the Duke of Richmond.

When trade disputes with Spain led to the outbreak of the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739, Blakeney was appointed Brigadier-general in the expeditionary force sent to reinforce Admiral Vernon in the West Indies. This was a notoriously unhealthy posting, Sir John Cope being one of those who refused the post; Blakeney's reputation for training officers and men was a factor in his selection, since the British force included 3,000 American militia. He took part in the disastrous attack of March 1741 on Cartagena de Indias and the short-lived occupation of Cuba. Survival was in itself an achievement; between 1740 and 1742, British navy and army deaths from disease and combat were estimated as over 20,000, with death rates of 80-90% among land forces. 

With little to show for the investment of men and money, the survivors returned to Britain in October 1742. Blakeney was now appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Stirling Castle, one of the strongest positions in Scotland that controlled access between the Highlands and the Lowlands. In the early stages of the 1745 Rising, the Jacobite army passed nearby en route to Edinburgh in September, although they had neither the time or the equipment needed to take it. In January 1746, they made a serious attempt to capture Stirling but progress was slow despite their victory at Falkirk Muir; on 1 February, they lifted the siege and withdrew to Inverness when Cumberland began advancing north from Edinburgh.

The rising ended with defeat at Culloden in April 1746 and Blakeney's efficient and determined defence of Stirling was rewarded with promotion to Lieutenant-General and command of pacification operations in the Highlands. In 1748, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Menorca, an island captured by the British in 1708; viewed as vital for control of the Western Mediterranean, it was strategically important but also vulnerable. The Spanish population resented the presence of British troops, while it was only two days sail from Cádiz and one from the French naval base at Toulon.

Blakeney attempted to mitigate this by encouraging his troops to marry local women and gaining administrative control over Catholic schools and institutions; neither of these was successful. Baron Tyrawley, titular governor of the island, never set foot in it and while not unusual, this was symptomatic of general neglect. A Parliamentary committee in 1757 noted the poor state of its defences, with crumbling walls and rotten gun platforms. In addition to Tyrawley, over 35 senior officers were absent, including the Governor of Fort St Philip and the colonels of all four regiments in its garrison, one being John Huske.

The Seven Years' War began in April 1756 when the French quickly occupied Minorca, with the exception of Fort St Philip, held by Blakeney. Admiral Byng's attempt to lift the siege ended with the indecisive naval Battle of Menorca in May and Blakeney surrendered on 29 June. He obtained good terms, including transportation of the garrison to Gibraltar, whose governor was Thomas Fowke (1690-1765), court-martialled in 1746 for the defeat at Battle of Prestonpans.

In the debate over Minorca's loss, Byng's personal habits were compared with Blakeney, whose love of dancing and the heavy drinking that left him with 'a paralytick disorder' and 'nervous tremors' portrayed as the virtues of a simple soldier. Fowke was dismissed for his alleged failure to reinforce Menorca with soldiers from the Gibraltar garrison, while Byng was executed in March 1757. Blakeney was rewarded by being appointed Knight Companion of the Bath, and 'Baron Blakeney' in the Irish peerage. However, others considered his surrender premature and felt a younger, more active commander would have held out until the arrival of Hawke's naval force in mid July. Delirium tremens left him barely able to write his name and his active military career now came to an end.

Legacy

Weapons drill and infantry training was a common topic among professional officers; Blakeney made his own contribution to this debate, which included the use of puppets to demonstrate drill positions to recruits. After Culloden, he was invited by Cumberland to demonstrate 'firings and evolutions of my own design' but in 1748, a new standard infantry drill manual was issued and Blakeney dropped his suggestions.

In 1759, the Friendly Brothers of Saint Patrick paid for a statue of Blakeney by sculptor John Van Nost to be erected in Dublin. Removed in 1763, the space was later filled by Nelson's Pillar, itself replaced in 1968 by the modern Spire of Dublin.

He died on 20 September 1761 in Ireland and later buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey; his gravestone still exists but the inscription is now very faint.

References

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Category:1672 births
Category:1761 deaths
Category:Barons in the Peerage of Ireland
Category:Peers of Ireland created by George II
Category:British Army generals
Category:British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War
Category:British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745
Category:British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession
Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey
Category:Irish MPs 1727–1760
Category:Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath
Category:Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Limerick constituencies
Category:Politicians from County Limerick
Category:27th Regiment of Foot officers
Category:Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers
Category:Irish soldiers in the British Army