Robert Blake

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Officer of the British Navy

Date of Birth	August 1598
Place of Birth	Bridgewater
Father's Name	Humphrey Blake - A merchant (???? - 1625)
Mother's Name	? (???? - 1638)
Date of Death	17th August 1657
Place of Death	At sea on board the George in Plymouth Sound
Place of Burial	King Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey

Date	Ship	Notes
February 1649		Appointed General at Sea together with Edward Popham and Richard Deane as joint commanders of the navy
1649	Lion	Blockade of Prince Rupert in Kinsale
October 1649	Lion	The Royalist ships broke the Blockade and sailed for Lisbon
March 1650		Lead a fleet to the Mediterranean in pursuit of Prince Rupert
September 1650		Prince Rupert attempted to break out of Lisbon, but failed
September 1650		Took several ships of the incoming Portugese Brazil fleet
May 1651		Took the Scilly Isles from the Royalist garrison
October 1651		Attacked and beseiged the Royalist stronghold on Jersey
December 1651		Elizabeth Castle, Jersey surrendered after a fifty day seige
1652		Commander of the Navy in the Channel
1653	Triumph	Commander of the Navy in the Channel
28th February 1653	Triumph	Wounded in the leg at the Battle of Portland
June 1653	Triumph	Ill health forced a return to England
October 1654		Commander of a fleet bound for the Mediterranean to act against the corsair states of North Africa
April 1655		Attacked and sank eight Turkish vessels at the Battle of Porto Farina
October 1655		Returned to England
March 1656	George (60)	Sailed for the Mediterranean with a fleet of forty-eight ships
1656	George (60)	Blockade of Cádiz
July 1657	George (60)	Left the Mediterranean for England

1629	A merchant named Robert Blake was active in Dorchester
April 1640	Elected Member of Parliament for Bridgewater
November 1640	Failed to gain re-election
	Became a captain in Alexander Popham's Regiment of Foot
1645	Elected Member of Parliament for Taunton

Date		Source
July 1643	Defense of Prior's Hill fort, at the siege of Bristol
	Defence of Lyme
July 1644	Captured Taunton for Parliament, which he then defended for a year
November 1645	Start of the siege of Dunster Castle
April 1646	Fall of Dunster Castle
May 1651	Assault on the Scilly Isles
October 1651	Seige of Elizabeth Castle, Jersey
29th May 1652	Battle of Dover
8th October 1652	Battle of Kentish Knock
10th December 1652	Battle of Dungeness
28th February 1653	Battle of Portland
12th & 13th June 1653	Battle of the Gabbard
April 1655	Battle of Porto Farina
April 1657	Battle of Santa Cruz

Blake's brother Benjamin Blake (1614-1689) served under Robert, emigrated to Carolina in 1682, and was the father of Joseph Blake, governor of South Carolina in 1694 and from 1696 to 1700.
Blake's brother Samual Blake fought under Popham before being killed in a duel in 1645.

001	The Blake Museum

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