Title
Blake, Edith [Lady]
Description
Bibliographic Dictionary Entry
Date
1845-1926
Creator
O'Toole, Tina
Source
Munster Women Writers Project, University College Cork
Publisher
Women in Irish Society Project, University College Cork
Rights
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Coverage
Munster, Ireland, 1800-2000
Format
Text
Relation
Language
en
Type
Text
Subject
Blake, Edith [Lady]
Contributor
O'Toole, Tina
Birth Date
1845
Death Date
1926
Birthplace
Newtown Anner, Co Tipperary
Place of Association
Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Myrtle Grove, Co Cork
Biographical Text
Edith was a close friend of Anna Parnell, and was deeply interested in Irish political issues of the day. In the early years of her married life in Clonmel, she wrote The Realities of Freemasonry, which included details of the Society's history and secret ceremonies. Butler describes this as a remarkable book, which "dispelled many of the mysteries of Freemasonry and exposing the secrets of male society" (114).
Her husband was the head of the Clonmel RIC, who went on to serve as a magistrate in Ireland, and then to take up the position of Governor first in the Bahamas, and later in Newfoundland, Jamaica, Hong Kong and Ceylon. In each of these countries, Edith sketched and painted the flora, fauna and landscape, and became well known as a botanical artist. Her outstanding collection of drawings, annotated by her, is held in the Entomology Library at the British Museum. In 1907, the couple returned to live in Myrtle Grove, Co.Cork, once the home of Sir Walter Raleigh, where she died in 1926. Some examples of her work, and her sketch books, are still in the house. [Bernal Osborne]
Her husband was the head of the Clonmel RIC, who went on to serve as a magistrate in Ireland, and then to take up the position of Governor first in the Bahamas, and later in Newfoundland, Jamaica, Hong Kong and Ceylon. In each of these countries, Edith sketched and painted the flora, fauna and landscape, and became well known as a botanical artist. Her outstanding collection of drawings, annotated by her, is held in the Entomology Library at the British Museum. In 1907, the couple returned to live in Myrtle Grove, Co.Cork, once the home of Sir Walter Raleigh, where she died in 1926. Some examples of her work, and her sketch books, are still in the house. [Bernal Osborne]
Bibliography
The Realities of Freemasonry London 1879
[Note: For further publications see journal article from British Museum entitled: The Lady Blake Collection: Catalogue of Lady Edith Blake's Collection of Drawings of Jamaican Lepidoptera and Plants. Available on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_51830_theladyblakecollectioncatalogu9999/page/n1/mode/2up]
[Note: For further publications see journal article from British Museum entitled: The Lady Blake Collection: Catalogue of Lady Edith Blake's Collection of Drawings of Jamaican Lepidoptera and Plants. Available on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_51830_theladyblakecollectioncatalogu9999/page/n1/mode/2up]
Writing Genre
Science
Political Writing
Botany