Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Blake, Ernest Oscar

06.06.1923 - 01.06.2000

Ernest was born in Breslau in eastern Germany. His family, described as ‘professional and academic … with a liberal tradition’, came to England as refugees in 1935. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and the Leys School in Cambridge, where the family initially settled, and soon become proficient in English.

During the Second World War he joined the British Army and ‘was advised that, should he captured, it would be unwise to have an identifiably German name’(Viewpoint). In response, he went through the surnames in the telephone book beginning with B, and selected Blake. Part of his military service was spent in Palestine, which stimulated his interest in the Crusades and medieval history more generally.

After the War, this was sustained and developed during his time at Cambridge University (Viewpoint). Here he met his wife Mavis and in 1952 the couple moved to Southampton. Initially appointed as Tutorial Fellow in the History Department of the University of Southampton, he was promoted to Assistant Lecturer in 1955/6 and Lecturer in 1956/7, following the award of a PhD. In 1969/70 he became a Senior Lecturer and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His final promotion to Reader came in 1983/84.

He retired in 1992. From the 1950s onwards, he lived with his family at Roselands, Moorhill Road, in the West End district of Southampton, until the house was demolished in 1985.

Sources

• Alec Samuels, ‘Roselands, and Dr Blake, and St Deny’s Priory’, Westender, vol. 12 no.2, Nov-Dec 2019, 3-4.

• Rev Professor Colin Morris, Tribute delivered at Ernest’s funeral, Viewpoint, No 408, 20 July 2000, 9.

Portrait

Contribution to county’s history

As a Medieval church historian, one of Blake’s particular interests was the St Denys Priory, situated alongside the River Itchen. Founded by the Augustinians during the reign of Henry 1 in 1124, it was dissolved in 1536. A further area of research was Southampton’s Leper Hospital which was under the jurisdiction of the Priory.

Relevant published works

• Blake E O The Cartulary of the Priory of St Denys near Southampton: Parts 1 and 2, Vols 24 and 25 in Southampton Record Series (Southampton University Press 1981)

Critical Comments

The History was not a work based on research in historical documents.

Other Comments

Alec Samuels, records that Blake was ‘a “meticulous scholar” of the old school’ with colleagues and students finding him ‘always polite, courteous, concerned, friendly, good humoured and helpful’ (Viewpoint – see above)

Contributor

Roger Ottewill (13.12.2021)

Key Words

Medieval church history, St Denys Priory, Southampton Leper Hospital, Southampton Record Series

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