Will of Nathaniel Blake, Carpenters Second Mate on board the Ship of Vessell called the Osterley in the service of the honourable the East India Company - The National Archives PROB 11/900, probated 3 Jul 1764

Mary Blake married John Booker 13 Sep 1750 at St Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street, London, England. Nathaniel mentions in his will that his mother was married to John Booker and that they lived in Croydon, Surrey and John Booker was a carpenter.

Nathanel Blake was baptized 23 May 1733 at Croydon St John, Surrey, England and born 6 May 1733 at Croydon son of Thomas and Mary Blake. Thomas Blake married Mary Lane 2 May 1732 at Saint John the Baptist Croydon, Surrey.

A Thomas Blake was baptized 13 Mar 1714 at Bletchingley St Mary, Surrey and born 6 Mar 1714 son of John and Elizabeth Blake. There are a number of possible marriages for a John Blake to Elizabeth.

A website discussing the voyages of the Osterley, originally a merchant ship which was commissioned by the Navy in 1761.

http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/eicah/osterley-park-middlesex/osterley-case-study-winds-of-trade/

Osterley I[3]

Owner: Francis Child III

Launched 1758

Principal Managing Owner: Charles Raymond

Voyages:

1)      1757/8 China

2)      1760/1 Benkulen, Madras and Bengal

3)      1765/6 Bombay and China

4)      1768/9 Madras and China

Like his father Samuel, Francis Child III invested in an EIC ship, the Osterley, in 1757/8 whose managing owner was Charles Raymond. [4] This ship, Osterley I, sailed four voyages around to Sumatra, around the Indian coast, St Helena and China between1758-1770.

Its Captain received permission to seize pirates and attack the French in 1757 and the ship seems to have taken on board a French prisoner of war whose death was reported a few years later. In 1761 under Captain Frederick Vincent the ship was commissioned by the Navy to assist a beleaguered Fort in Indonesia.[5] He seems to have stayed on to govern the Company Fort at Benkulen on the Sumatran coast for a while before returning to Gravesend in the following February where the Court Minutes record payment of £2000, £9000, and £3000 to the owners of the Osterley between April and December 1760 for freight and demurrage. After its first voyage before returning to Gravesend in February 1760 it was  ‘…met by many boats, such as the Providence which were loaded with the Hon Company’s goods, tea, Chinaware, Iron and some Chinawares.’[6]After this voyage in that December it was ordered that the Committee of Treasury be desired to ship 5 chests of foreign silver for China to the ship Osterley (and other similar ships) for Bencoolan (Benkulen).[7] At Benkulen the Osterley, like other Company ships, was engaged in buying large quantities of pepper.[8]
Fort St George on the Coromandel Coast. Belonging to the East India Company of England

Figure 9: Fort St George on the Coromandel Coast. Belonging to the East India Company of England. 1754, Ryne, Jan Van, Sayer, 255 x 398 mm. Robert, National Maritime Museum, PAD1845.

Osterley I’s final voyage from Madras to China provides a good example of the East India Company’s dealings in Asia. Harbour logs from the Captain Francis Fortescue’s journal for Osterley I indicate that like most East Indiamen, it sailed along with other companion ships (Pigott, Thames, Ankerwick, Lincoln, Triton, Nottingham, Havannah, Hector, Ashburnham) as well as country vessels. Osterley I sailed for Madras on 31 January 1769. (See Figure 10: Fort St. George on the Coromandel Coast) In June while on its journey from the Goan port of Cabo de Rama (Cape Rama) in northwest India to Cape Comorin in the southernmost tip of India, the ship picked up an important consignment of elephant bone (ivory). On 12 July 1769 while docked close to Madras, the ship received redwood and cotton on behalf of the East India Company. These goods were usually brought to the main ship on smaller country ships, which did the rounds from ports and factories. The ship then sailed towards Bengal and stowed additional loads of five hundred bales of cotton and thirty tons of redwood. It was only in October that the ship reached Whampoa, through the Malacca Straits.

Once near Canton, much of the cotton and redwood as well as the ship’s cargo of lead was unloaded and the ship ‘…received on board 90 chests of china of the hon’ble comps [Honorable Company’s], and 62 Private trade.’ It is remarkable that the number of chests containing porcelain was nearly two-thirds of those bought on behalf of the Company. This also suggests that Fortescue was acting on behalf of several private clients one of whom may have been Samuel Child’s son Robert Child (since Francis III had died in 1763) under whom many restorations and refurbishments occurred at Osterley Park. Between November and December Osterley I stacked up hundreds of chests of different varieties of tea such as bohea, souchong, congo and nanheen. Osterley’s journey back in January 1770 was its last as in its next incarnation, the ship changed owners.

Notes

[3] This information is summarized from British Library, LMAR 400 series A through E.

[4] According to a Letter of Marque traced by Georgina Green, the owners of Osterley I in 1757/58 were Sir Richard Lyttleton, Francis Child, Jonathan Ewer and Charles Raymond. For further information on Charles Raymond, see the Valentine Mansion Case Study.

[5] National Archives  DD/N/223c/26 & 27  6 Sept. 1762 & 12 Oct. 1762.

[6] BL IOR L/Mar/B400A-E

[7] Court Minutes of the EIC 1760-61 B 76.

[8] BL IOR L/MAR/B/400B-C, Journal 23 Nov 1760-2. The Journal entry for 30 May 1762 records 595 bags of pepper; on 31 May and 1 June, 719 bags of pepper and 612 bags of pepper from the ship Deligence on account of the EIC.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 15 May 2017
Source:  The National Archives, PROB 11/900
Name of testator: Nathaniel Blake, Carpenters Second Mate
Place:  on board the Ship or Vessell called the Osterley in the service of the honourable the East India Company
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 16 Dec 1760, probated 3 Jul 1764

[In margin]: Nathl Blake

1    In the Name of God Amen
2    I Nathaniel Blake Carpenters Second Mate on board the Ship or
3    Vessell called the Osterley in the Service of the honourable the East
4    India Company whereof Captain Vincent is Commander now Outward
5    Board to Bencoolen and China and not knowing how it may
6    please God to deal with me But Considering the uncertainty of
7    this present Transitory life do make and declare these presents to
8    contain my last Will and Testament in manner and Form
9    following (that is to say) First and principally I commend my
10    Soul into the hands of Almighty God hoping to be saved through
11    the Merit death Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ my
12    only Saviour and my body to the Sea and as for my Estate
13    Real and personal I dispose thereof in manner following (that is
11    to say) all such Wages Sum and Sums of Money Lands Tenements
15    Goods Chattles and Estate whatsoever wherewith at the time of my
16    decease I shall be possessed or invested or which shall then belong or
17    of right appertain unto me I do give devise and bequeath unto
18    my dear Mother Mary the Wife of John Booker of Croydon in
19    the County of Surry Carpenter whom I do hereby Nominate and
20    appoint Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament and I
21    do revoke all former Wills and deeds of Gift be me at any time
22    heretofore made and do ordain these presents to stand and be for
23    and as my last Will and Testament for ever Witness my hand and
24    Seal this Nineteenth day of December in the year of our Lord
25    One thousand seven hundred and sixty Nathaniel Blake Signed
26    sealed published and declared by the said Testator Nathaniel
27    Blake as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence
28    of us who at his request and in his presence have hereunto
29    Subscribed our Names as Witnesses thereto Elizth Lewen Elizth
30    Haydon Jas Lewen
31    This Will was proved at London before the Worshipfull
32    William Compton doctor of Laws Surrogate of the Right
33    Worshipfull George Hay doctor of Laws Master
34    Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
35    Lawfully Constituted on the third day of July in the Year of Our
36    Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty four by the Oath of
37    Mary Booker (Wife of John Booker) the Mother and Sole
38    Executrix named in the said Will to whom Administration was
39    granted of all and Singualr the Goods Chattels and Credits of
40    the deceased she having been first Sworn duly to Administer

Will of Bryan Higgins Blake, Esquire, Lieutenant 4th Light Dragoons - The National Archives, PROB 11/1876, probated 21 Apr 1837

The testator Bryan Higgins Blake was born in Dublin Ireland according to an online tree at Ancestry. There was a book published for the Higgins, William and Bryan family “The Life and Work of William Higgins Chemist 1763-1825”, by Thomas Sherlock Wheeler, Pergamon Press, 1960.

Since this traces along the female line of Higgins I will not add any details here but this tree is a public tree online at Ancestry. Robert Blake, MD, married Anne Higgins 25 Nov 1799 at St James, London, England.

There are a number of children listed for Robert Blake and Anne Higgins:

Edward Hudson Blake 1801
Jane Blake 1803
Elinor Blake 1806; married Nassau William Stephens 16 Aug 1838 at St Peter’s Parish, Dublin
Bryan Higgins Blake 1808-21 Apr 1837; married Caroline Elizabeth Milner 24 Jan 1831 at Aylesford, Kent and their son Bryan Higgins Blake was born 4 May 1836 at Torquay, Devon
Richard Everard Blake 1819; married Maria Elizabeth Gildea 18 May 1847 St Peters Church of Ireland, Dublin

This online tree lists the parents of Robert Blake as Robert Blake and Elizabeth Hudson. I could not find any more on this line. This Robert does not appear to be descendant of the Galway Blake family although there are many lines missing in the published books of Martin Joseph Blake on the descendants of the Blake family at Galway.


Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 22 Jan 2017
Source:  The National Archives, PROB 11/1876
Name of testator: Bryan Higgins Blake, Esquire. Lieutenant 4th Light Dragoons
Place: somewhere in England
Type of Record: Will
Dated 5 Aug 1833, probated 21 Apr 1837

[In margin] Bryan Higgins Blake, Esquire 9

1    In the name of god Amen
2    I Bryan Higgins Blake Lieutenant in the 4th Light Dragoons being weak in
3    body but of sound and disposing mind memory and understanding do make and
4    publish this my Will and Testament in manner following I give devise and
5    bequeath all my Estate Real and Personal unto such Child and Children as
6    may be living at the time of my decease or born in due time afterwards and to
7    their respective heirs and executors in equal shares and proportions the share of
8    such of them as may be Girls to vest at the age of eighteen and of Boys at the
9    age of twenty one with right of survivorship between them and if only one
10    shall live to take such vested interest the whole to such onely one and if there shall
11    be no child who shall live to take such bested interest then I give my said Estate
12    and property as follows I give and bequeath unto my dear Mother in case
13    she shall outlive my Grandmother as a mark of my duty and affection the sum
14    of £200 to be paid her out of the money to which I am entitled at the death of
15    my Grandmother I give and bequeath unto my Sister Henrietta Garde all my
16    share and interest in the house in Harcourt Street in which my Mother at
17    present resides all the Rest Residue and Remainder of my Real and
18    Personal property of what nature or kind soever I die seized possessed of or
19    entitled to I give devise and bequeath to my Brother in law Richard Garde his
20    heirs Executors and Administrators in trust to pay to my dear Wife Caroline
21    Elizabeth Blake during her life the rents issues profits dividends and interest
22    thereof upon her receipt and for her sole and separate use free from the
23    control and interference of any after taken husband and from and after the
24    decease of my dear Wife I then give and bequeath all my said Estate and
25    property to my said Trustee in trust for my two Brothers Edward Hudson
26    Blake and Richard Everard Blake during their lives share and share alike
27    and after their decease the share of each of them to go to such of their
28    respective Sons as shall attain the age of twenty one years but if either or both
29    my said Brothers shall die unmarried or without leaving Sons who shall
30    attain the age of twenty one I then give and bequeath the share and shares
31    of either or both my said Brothers so dying unto my Sisters who shall be
32    surviving at the time of their death share and share alike as tenants in
33    common and not joint tenants and to their several and respective heirs I
34    hereby authorize and empower my said Trustee to reimburse himself whatever
35    expences he may be put to or incur in the execution of this my Will and I hereby
36    nominate constitute and appoint my said Brother in law Richard Garde
37    Executor of this my last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I the said
38    Bryan Higgins Blake have hereunto set my hand and seal this 5th day of August
39    in the year of our Lord 1833 Bryan Higgins Blake Signed Sealed
40    declared and Published by the above named Bryan Higgins Blake as and for
41    his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his
42    presence have subscribed our hands as Witnesses hereto William Garde Jr
43    Rob Booker  Jas Prescott
44    Codicil
45    It having pleased the Almighty to bless me with a Child I deem it advisable and
46    I do nominate constitute and appoint my Brothers in law Charles Milner Esq[ui]re of
47    Preston Hall and Henry Robert Milner Esq[ui]re Major 94th Regiment Executors of
48    this my last Will and Testament in conjunction with the before mentioned Richard
49    Garde it is also my Will (that should I die in England I should be buried in
50    the Milner Family Vault at Aylesford in Kent) In Witness whereof I the said
51    Bryan Higgins Blake have hereunto set my hand and seal the 25th day of July
52    in the year of our Lord 1836 in the presence of Bryan Higgins Blake
53    Irvine Whitty Captain R Art
54    Jane Thompson
55    John Walsh
56    Proved at London with a Codicil the 21st April 1837 before the
57    Worshipful John Danbury doctor of Laws and Surrogate by the Oath of Charles
58    Milner Esquire one of the Executors named in the Codicil to whom Admon was granted having been first
59    Sworn duly to Administer power reserved of making the like Grant to Richard
60    Garde the Executor named in the Will and Henry Robert Milner Esquire the
61    other Executor named in the Codicil when they shall apply for the same