Governor of Ceylon
Henry Arthur Blake took which position from Dec 1903 to Jul 1907?
Henry Arthur Blake Sir Henry Arthur Blake ( ; 8January 184023February 1918 ) was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903 . Early life , family and career . Blake was born in Limerick , Ireland . He was the son of Peter Blake of Corbally Castle ( c . 1805 – bur . St . Anns , Dublin , 19 November 1850 ) , a Galway-born county Inspector of the Irish Constabulary , and wife ( m . Mobarnan , County Tipperary ) Jane Lane ( Lanespark , County Tipperary , 5 March 1819 – ? ) , daughter of John Lane of Lanespark , County Tipperary , and paternal grandson of Peter Blake of Corbally Castle , County Galway ( ? – 1842 , bur . Peter’s Well , County Galway ) and wife ( m . 14 May 1800 ) Mary Browne , daughter of The Hon . John Browne and wife Mary Cocks and paternal granddaughter of John Browne , 1st Earl of Altamont , and wife Anne Gore . He was included among the descendants the Blakes of Corbally Castle , Kilmoylan , County Galway , the descendants of Peter Blake ( ? – 1712 ) , who was granted the lands of Corbally , Kilmoylan , County Galway , on 20 December 1697 , and wife Magdeline Martin , the Blakes . Peter Blake was a son of Sir Richard Blake and wife Gyles Kirwan . Blake started out as a clerk in the Bank of Ireland but lasted only 18 months before resigning and commencing a cadetship in the Irish Constabulary in 1857 . He became a special inspector two years later . In 1876 , he was appointed Resident Magistrate to Tuam , an especially disturbed district in the west of Ireland , where he was noted as judicious and active . In 1882 , he was promoted to Special Resident Magistrate . Early colonial services . In 1884 , Blake was made Governor of Bahamas , a position he held until 1887 . He was appointed to Queensland in 1886 but resigned without entering the administration , following an imbroglio between Secretary of State for the Colonies , Lord Knutsford , and the premier of Queensland , Sir Thomas MIlwraith , on the appointment . In 1887 , he moved to Newfoundland , where he was governor until the end of 1888 , being knighted on 7 November that year . In 1889 he became the Captain-General and Governor of Jamaica . His term was extended in 1894 and 1896 , at the request of Legislature and public bodies of the island , until 1897 . Governor of Hong Kong . On 25 November 1898 , Blake was appointed Governor of Hong Kong , a position he held until November 1903 . Five months before he arrived in Hong Kong , the British government negotiated an agreement with the Qing government which leased the New Territories to British Hong Kong for 99 years . During his tenure , Blake sent in colonial administrators to the New Territories to assert control over the local punti clans . The clans resisted the British takeover of the New Territories , resulting in the outbreak of the Six-Day War ; a largely Indian force under the command of British Army officer William Gascoigne managed to defeat the punti clans , with Blake adopting an amiable co-operation policy to prevent further trouble and allowed them to retain traditional laws and customs in regards to land inheritance , land usage and marriage . Blake left Hong Kong immediately after he attended the laying of the foundation stone of the Supreme Court building ( Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1985 to 2011 ) on 12 November 1903 . Post-Hong Kong . Blake was appointed Governor of Ceylon at the end of his tenure in Hong Kong in 1903 , and he served in that capacity until 1907 . This was his last post in the Colonial Service . A freshly retired Blake impressed George Morrison with his bitterness at not landing a Privy Council sinecure in gratitude for his 41 years public service . The Blakes retired to Myrtle Grove in Youghal , County Cork , where they both died and were buried . Personal life . Blake married twice : Jeannie Irwin in 1862 ( she died in 1866 ) , and Edith Bernal Osborne in Ireland , on 7 February 1874 ( she was the daughter of MP Ralph Bernal Osborne ) . He had two sons , and one daughter Olive , who married John Bernard Arbuthnot . During his period as Governor of The Bahamas , a watercolour of his three children , Children Under a Palm , was painted by Winslow Homer . The painting was subsequently featured on the BBC TV programme , Fake or Fortune ? Honours . - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George ( CMG ) , 1887 - Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George ( KCMG ) , 1888 - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George ( GCMG ) , 1897 - Knight of Justice of Order of St . John of Jerusalem - Fellow of Royal Geographical Society ( FRGS ) - JP - DL - Fellow of Royal Colonial Institute ( FRCI ) - Fellow of Institute of Directors ( FIoD ) - Honorary Colonel of Ceylon Mounted Rifles - District Grand Master Ceylon Freemasons - Member , Council Royal Dublin Society - Honorary Member , Royal Zoological Society , London Legacy . The community of Blaketown in Canada was named in his honour when he was the governor of Newfoundland . Blake Garden , Blake Pier ( 卜公碼頭 ) and Blake Block ( now within the Peoples Liberation Army Hong Kong Headquarters ) are named after him . The Bauhinia blakeana , discovered in Hong Kong around 1880 , was named after him ( Blake shared his wifes interest in botany ) . It became an emblem of Hong Kong in 1965 and has been the official emblem from 1 July 1997 . It appears on the flag of Hong Kong and its currency . The John Crow Mountains in Jamaica were renamed the Blake Mountains in 1890 but the name did not stick . Publications . - McGrath , Terence , pseud . [ i.e . Sir Henry Arthur Blake. ] 1880 , Pictures from Ireland . Kegan Paul & Co. : London , 1880 . Available from archive.org