Henry Arthur Blake - Definition

Sir Henry Arthur Blake (1840 - 1918) was a British colonial admnistrator.

Career

After a term as an Irish magistrate, Blake became:

1884-1887: governor of the Bahamas

1887-1889: governor of Newfoundland

he was then appointed governor of Queensland but resigned before taking office

1889-1897: governor of Jamaica

1897-1903: governor of Hong Kong

1903-1907: governor of Ceylon

In 1910 he left the Colonial Office to become chairman of Newfoundland Oilfields Limited.

Memory

Blake had a strong interest in botany. The tree Bauhinia blakeana, which was first found in Hong Kong around 1880, was named after him. Its flower was adopted as the emblem of Hong Kong in 1965 and since 1997 it is the representative flower for the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, and appears on its flag and its coins.

External link

• Short biography with picture (http://www.heritage.nf.ca/govhouse/governors/g55.html)