BLACKETT, Sir Edward, 2nd Bt. (1649-1718), of Newby, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1689

Family and Education

bap. 25 Oct. 1649, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of William Blackett, and bro. of Sir William Blackett. m. (1) Mary, da. and h. of Thomas Norton of Langthorne, 1s. d.v.p.; (2) c.1680, Mary, da. of Sir John Yorke of Richmond, Yorks., 6s. 6da; (3) 21 Oct. 1699, Diana (d. 7 Oct. 1713), da. of Hon. (Sir) George Booth, 1st Baron Delamere, of Dunham Massey, Cheshire, wid. of Sir Ralph Delaval, 2nd Bt., of Seaton Delaval, Northumb., s.p. suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. 16 May 1680.1

Offices Held

Member, merchant adventurers’ co. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1672, hostmen’s co. 1684; j.p. Northumb. 1677-July 1688, 1689-?d., Yorks. (N. Riding) 1677-Feb. 1688, Nov. 1688-?d., Ripon 1679-?d.; sheriff, Northumb. 1679-80; freeman, Ripon Sept. 1688; commr. for assessment, Yorks. (W. and N. Riding) 1689-90, 1 Northumb. 1689.2

Biography

Blackett married a Yorkshire heiress and purchased a large estate at Newby, four miles from Ripon. As sheriff of Northumberland during the Popish Plot he was particularly active in levying fines on recusants. But he presumably opposed exclusion, since he remained on the commissions of the peace in 1680. As a j.p. in the North Riding he replied to the questions on the Test Act and Penal Laws in February 1688:

If I shall be chosen a Member of Parliament I shall give my vote according to the debate in the House. ... If I do concern myself in the election of any Member of Parliament, it shall be for such as are loyal to the prince, and who I hope will discharge their trust faithfully and honestly to the King and kingdom.

He was removed from county office, and in August the King’s agents for the West Riding complained that:

Sir Edward Blackett, though he had notice, did not appear, but went, whilst we were taking answers within the corporation of Ripon, through Ripon to dine with a gentleman hard by, as we were told. We writ a letter to him to send us his answer in writing, which he did, and told us that he had answered in the North Riding.

Nevertheless he was given the freedom of Ripon in the following month, and returned for the borough in 1689 after a contest with the well-entrenched Jennings interest. According to Ailesbury’s list he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant; but his only committee in the Convention was on the bill to establish a ‘court of conscience’ for small claims at Newcastle. He did not return to the House till 1698, when he was elected knight of the shire for Northumberland as a Tory. He died on 23 Apr. 1718 and was buried in Ripon Minster. His grandson represented Northumberland as an independent from 1768 to 1774.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: P. A. Bolton / Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Hist. Northumb. xii. 377.
  • 2. Newcastle Merchant Adventurers (Surtees Soc. ci), 298; Newcastle Hostmen’s Co. (Surtees Soc. cv), 272; Ripon Millenary Rec. ed. Harrison, pt. 2, p. 78; Add. 29674, f. 160.
  • 3. T. Gent, Ripon, 123.