Harry Blackburne

The Very Rev Harry William Blackburne DSO,[1] MC (25 January 1878 – 31 May 1963) was an Anglican clergyman, Dean of Bristol[2][3] from 1934 [4] to 1951.[5]

He was born on 25 January 1878 and educated at Tonbridge School and Clare College, Cambridge.[6] After service as a trooper in the Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry during the Boer War he was ordained in 1902.[7] After a curacy at All Saints, Leamington[8] he was an army Chaplain from 1903 to 1924. From 1924 to 1931 he was Vicar of St Mary, Ashford. An Honorary Chaplain to the King he was a Canon of St George's, Windsor until his appointment to the Deanery.[9] A noted author,[10] he died on 31 May 1963.

His brother Lionel Edward Blackburne was Dean of Ely, one son Hugh a Bishop of Thetford and another, Kenneth, the first governor-general of Jamaica.

Personal papers belonging to Blackburne are held in the archives at The Museum of Army Chaplaincy.

Notes

1. London Gazette
2. National Archives
3. Crockford's Clerical Directory1947/1948 Oxford, OUP, 1947
4. The Times, Saturday, 10 Feb 1934; pg. 12; Issue 46675; col C New Dean Of Bristol Canon H. W. Blackburne Appointed
5. “Who was Who”1897-1990 London, A & C Black, 1991 ISBN 0-7136-3457-X
6. "Blackburne, Harry William (BLKN897H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
7. Crockfords (ibid)
8. Church web-site Archived 7 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
9. National Church Institutions Database of Manuscripts and Archives
10. Amongst others he wrote "This also happened on the Western Front, The Padre’s Story", 1932; "The Romance of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle", 1933; "Clergy in Wartime", 1939; and "A Thought for Sunday", 1942 > British Library web site accessed 21:18 GMT Saturday 16 January 2010