Continuing on the same theme

The origin of this crest used by the Calne Blake family is a mystery? I am curious if it is a French coat of arms that the originating le Blake/le Blak family used in France and decided to change to the arg. a chevron between 3 garbs, sab. which is the usual arms associated with the Blake family at Calne (and some individuals at Andover although always penciled in rather than printed).

A little more searching has brought up another interesting publication of the Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms and on page 1023 I found the following:

Arg.  a pile issuing out of the chief az. charged with three martlets, or.                Blage

Slightly different from the Blake crest used by the family at Calne and Andover but the surname attached to it is rather interesting - Blage. It is an aside though and not part of the Blake Family of Andover; just interesting. I do tend to pay attention to interesting asides on occasion. 

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7130641M/An_alphabetical_dictionary_of_coats_of_arms_belonging_to_families_in_Great_Britain_and_Ireland

 
Does all of this detail constitute another chapter I wonder  and perhaps I will do that at the moment and label it Chapter 7 - Thoughts on the Blake Fraud created by Horatio Gates Somerby.

It is mostly created in these blogs and just needs to be organized a few more images inserted and I rather think that I will do that. 

I did speak to the College of Arms when we were in London about the footnote on the Blake Pedigree that said family records had been used. The College did not retain those records and they suggested I write the family. Not really have knowledge of this family line as to whom to write  however I continued pursuing the documents that are available and the comments made by other genealogists through the years. 

I was sort of surprised when I discovered some of the information as the Blake family at Calne had refused to accept a knighthood and for that Pynhills was basically demolished by King Charles I's orders. When my great grandmother's cousin Sir John Carling was knighted the family, according to my grandfather (who repeated it to his wife and children later), were very pleased to see this  honour bestowed on one of their own. Interestingly my grandfather used to say that people having titles live in a fishbow. When Edward was first unwell in 2011 I decided to acquire support letters in favour of his being nominated so that Edward would receive the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and he was thrilled to receive it. It now belongs to his grandsons as a Medal which was given to their grandfather. So I can understand why people would be excited to receive such honours but I also understand why people avoid it. Edward was thrilled; he loved to be the centre of attention. 

I note that just three years after Sir William Blake received the knighthood he passed away so perhaps a lot of this misinformation on his family line coming down from John Blake and Margaret (Blake) Blake is a product of his not being available to make any corrections; no ideas on that. Daniel Blake, the family member who worked with the College of Arms to produce the Blake Pedigree Chart,  was not directly descended from Sir William Blake. Daniel was the son of William Blake and Margaret Fountain with this William being the son of Thomas Blake and Eleanor (Hall) Blake (Thomas was a brother to Sir William Blake). This Thomas Blake was also a son of John Blake and Margaret Blake which takes us back on this chart to William Blake and Avis Ripley (the suggested extra son for Roger Blake and Mary Baynard for whom there is no documentation). On the Blake Pedigree Chart this William is said to be of Easton Town alias Essington near Andover, Hampshire. 

The will probated for William Blake of Easton Town 1582 is actually the will of William Blake of Eastontown near Andover dated 27 Jul 1582 and probated 14 Nov 1582.  He names his brother as Edmunde, his sisters as Elizabeth and Alice which fits him very neatly into the family of Nicholas and Margaret Blake. His eldest son was John Blake married to Margaret Blake (the parents of Sir William Blake). William (father of John Blake)'s wife was named Elizabeth in his will but I am suspicious that he was married twice. Still working on that. This William, in his will of 1582,  includes mention of the Blake family of Speen, Berkshire in his will which is significant as I believe this to be the le Blak family of Rouen, Normandy and later Wargrave near Windsor, Berkshire that eventually, as they moved towards Calne, used the spelling Blake for their surname. One does not have an impression that they were anything beyond friends these two Blake lines (at Andover and Speen) reading the will. If there was a relationship as I have suggested it was the individual living at Enham in the 1300s who married into the le Blak family (namely Alice la Blak or another; why is Alice in Hampshire in the records along with a couple of other le Blak) and took her surname. That it would be a reasonable thought comes from the idea that Britons did not have surnames until the coming of the Normans and taking on the surname of a Norman offered huge advantages for sure (particularly security). 

Paying attention to the news for the  moment and pleased to see a Majority Government - I think of it as a Unified Government to be honest that will support the rapid transition of Canada from a somewhat dependent country to a more free-standing country which we were right up until the early 1960s. Perhaps it is a sort of deja vu that it is the Liberal Party that is re-working their time in government since the late 1990s when our military was no longer properly supported and we were rapidly slipping into too-dependent a relationship on our neighbour although it was equally enjoyed by both and then included Mexico as well and has been beneficial to all of us. Now as the government once again the Liberal Party is busy building up our military, encouraging industry to diversify its trading partners both within Canada and around the world. Prime Minister Carney is ideally suited I will admit to being that guardian of Canada at this time and in this place. His experiences, his knowledge all being put to use as our trade around the world increases rapidly and our attention to the potential of more pipelines and mining the rare earths and minerals will rapidly increase. His ability to stand back and let his Cabinet and the members of his party be very much part of this growing process is very much to his credit and seldom seen in government. The desire to be part of that particularly if you have been in opposition in the Conservative Party or the NDP (I do think Avi Lewis will be a good leader although unlikely I would ever vote NDP except perhaps for Wab Kinew if he ever goes federal) or the Green Party is very understandable - knowing that your skills are such that they will improve the ability to move this along more quickly. I would support my candidate if they happened to be Conservative moving to the Liberal Party at this time. I think we have to be wise and attentive to make the most of our opportunities in the world. Our relationship with our good friends and neighbours - the United States and Mexico - continues to be something we would like to see carry on but we leave that up to our government to seek the best trade deal for Canada and for all of us in North America. Our trading relationship has been the best in the world and we all benefit. We too lost some of our home-grown industries and we will re-invent them over time if necessary in order to support our economy. But in essence we had no complaints really about CUSMA. It provided a good life for North America. 

No more news for awhile I must work on the books; they are my life work I believe although I am very late in starting as they were begun when I was 79. 

Tea all drank and must do my Solitaire Puzzles to sharpen the brain.  Cleaning all completed and breakfast soon.