The Blakes of Bridgwater and the English Revolution is published by the Friends of the Blake Museum, Bridgwater. It is available to purchase in the museum shop, or online here from the Bridgwater Heritage Group.
Blurb
The Blake family was at the same time exceptional and fairly typical. The family, initially pronounced ‘Black’, emerged from seemingly modest social roots in Tudor Somerset, and in many ways came to be representative of many of the trends of early modern England. They typified the opportunities for upward social mobility, and the family prospered. One of their number, Robert Blake, stands out as an exceptional man for truly exceptional times. When civil war tore the country and families apart in the mid-seventeenth century Robert rose quickly to became an admiral of the Republic in the time of Oliver Cromwell. This is a fascinating story of heroism and integrity, and the author David Sebborn succeeds in weaving national, regional and family history into a compelling narrative.
Review by MKP (originally published in Blake News)
Most accounts of General-at-Sea Robert Blake (1598-1657), present quite a lonely picture of England’s greatest admiral. A brilliant man, heroic, determined, resolute, as well as organised and thorough, yes; but a man married to his cause and his work. With no wife and children, he was unencumbered and able to fully devote himself to establishing the English navy on the course that would lead it to rule the waves for the next three hundred years.
That picture is delightfully challenged in David Sebborn’s new book, The Blakes of Bridgwater and the English Revolution, published by the Friends of Blake Museum. Robert is shown as a devoted family man, surrounded by brothers or nephews throughout his career and wholly less alone than is usually depicted. Sebborn embeds Robert’s life and career within the broader picture of his family – ancestors, siblings, cousins and nephews, with their origins on the Quantocks, their establishment in Bridgwater, then their ultimate scattering around England and the New World.
Sebborn presents the sometimes impenetrable complexities of sixteenth century trade, religion and society in a clear and easy to understand manner. Robert’s momentous career is neatly summarised throughout the book, in a way that’s brief enough to keep the chapters moving on and set within the story of the wider family, but with no loss of adventure or sense of importance.
Not only does this book give us a wholly new and richer perspective on Robert Blake, but it also tells us a lot about Bridgwater – it’s connections to the Quantocks, it’s trade with the wider world, and how it fit into the politics of England during this disastrous century.
Praise must be given to Elizabeth Sebborn and Mike Searle’s effort to bring David’s unfinished manuscript to perfection and publication. This is a very professionally produced publication, which befits the terrific quality of the research and writing.