# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Blanckley, Edward

Layout 4
​BLANCKLEY. (Capt., 1841. f-p., 17; h-p., 24.)
Edward Blanckley died 4 May, 1845. He was son of H. S. Blanckley, Esq., many years Consul-General at Algiers.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 Jan. 1805, as Midshipman, on board the Madras 54, Capt. Chas. Marsh Schomberg, stationed in the Mediterranean, where, during a continuance of more than nine years, he successively joined – in July, 1807, and Dec. 1808, the Pylades sloop and Glatton 56, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Miller Bligh – in May, 1809, the Wizard 16, Capt. Abel Ferris – and in Oct. 1809, and March, 1810, the Mercury 28, and Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan. He assisted, on 2 Nov. 1811, in conjunction with the Thames 32, at the gallant capture and destruction, in the harbour of Palinuro, on the coast of Calabria, of 10 gun-boats and 22 richly-laden feluccas, although defended by a strong tower, two batteries, and a land force of 700 men; contributed next, 27 June, 1812, to the destruction of a French convoy and of the batteries of Languelia and Alassio, in the Gulf of Genoa; was present, on 17 Aug. in the same year, in a spirited skirmish with a powerful Neapolitan squadron in the Bay of Naples; participated, with the squadron under Capt. Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, in the capture, 5 Oct. 1813, of 29 French vessels, anchored under the guns of two batteries and a tower, at Port d’Anzo; and subsequently witnessed, independently of many other services, the operations at Via Reggio and Leghorn, under Sir Josias Rowley. From the Impérieuse Mr. Blanckley accompanied Capt. Duncan, in Aug. 1814, into the Glasgow 50, which ship, after cruizing for some months off the Western Islands, he left in April, 1815, having been a short time before, on 6 Feb., advanced to the rank of Lieutenant. His next appointment was, 16 May, 1822, to the Alligator 28, Capt. Thos. Alexander, fitting for the East India station, where his exertions during the Burmese war were rewarded by his promotion to the acting-command of the Sophie sloop, about April, 1825. The Admiralty accorded their sanction to the appointment 10 Dec. in the same year; but, the Sophie having been previously sold, Capt. Blanckley returned to England a passenger in the Liffey 50, Capt. Thos. Coe, 21 Jan. 1826. He lastly, on 22 May, 1831, obtained command of the Pylades 18, for service in South America. On his passage thither he received the open acknowledgments of the British residents at Madeira for “his manly protection of their interests at an eventful period.” After serving most creditably for three years, during which period he also elicited the public thanks of the British merchants at Pemambuco for his active protection of themselves and their property at a time of revolt and massacre, he returned home with a freight of 400,000 dollars, and was paid off in June, 1834. His elevation to Post-rank took place 23 Jan. 1841.
Capt. Blanckley married, first, in 1820, Harriet, third daughter of Geo. Matcham, Esq., of Ashford Lodge, Sussex, niece, maternally, of the hero of Trafalgar, and sister-in-law of Lieuts. John Bendyshe, R.N., Arthur Davies, R.N., and Henry Wm. Mason, R.N., by whom he had, with other issue, a son, the present Lieut. Henry Duncan Blanckley, R.N. He married, secondly, 14 July, 1841, Sarah Elizabeth, of Redland Hall, co. Gloucester, eldest daughter of the late Sir Geo. Nayler, Garter King-at-Arms. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.