Edwin Blake (1830 – 18 March 1914) was a 19th-century Liberal Party Member of Parliament in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

, New Zealand.

Early life

Blake was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, England. He and his brother Walter were both educated at Wimborne and then

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

. Edwin Blake was a civil engineer and surveyor. In England, he worked on railway projects.

New Zealand

Edwin Blake came to Otago in 1861 and moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in 1863. The West Coast Gold Rush necessitated overland connections between Christchurch and the West Coast. Early in 1865, the Blake brothers had a contract with the

Canterbury Provincial Council The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch. History Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...

to improve the track over

Harper Pass Harper Pass (elevation ), previously known as Hurunui Pass or sometimes Taramakau Pass, is an alpine pass between Canterbury and the West Coast in New Zealand. It was the most important crossing for Māori to obtain pounamu. The first European ...

, the high pass connecting the Hurunui and

Taramakau River The Taramakau River is a river of the West Coast Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises in the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana near Harper Pass, due east of Hokitika, and runs westward for into the Tasman Sea south of ...

s. This contract was completed by April of that year, and Walter Blake was then put in charge of sections of the dray road built over Arthur's Pass, but the contract was soon assigned to Edwin Blake. One of the sections was adjacent to Lake Brunner, at the time still part of the route to the West Coast. This was soon superseded by a more direct route built by Walter Blake that followed the Taramakau River. Edwin Blake was then commissioned to widen the track through the Otira Valley down to the Taipo River. When the road construction projects were completed, Blake settled on the West Coast. In the , Blake contested the electorate, but was beaten by 700 to 624 votes by Richard Seddon. He moved back to Christchurch in 1882, but contested the Kumara electorate once again in the ; the incumbent Seddon again won the contest. Blake represented the Avon electorate from the 1887 Avon by-election to , when he was defeated standing in the electorate. He died on 18 March 1914 and was buried at Linwood Cemetery. Blakes Road in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

is named for him and his younger brother John William.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Edwin 1830 births 1946 deaths People educated at Eton College Burials at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand Liberal Party MPs New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates Independent MPs of New Zealand Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1881 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1893 New Zealand general election 19th-century New Zealand politicians