The Rt Hon. Joseph Henry Blake, 3rd Baron Wallscourt (2 June 1797 – 28 May 1849), was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

nobleman and pioneering

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

. Blake (one of

The Tribes of Galway The Tribes of Galway ( ga, Treibheanna na Gaillimhe) were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families ...

) was the eldest son of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Henry James Blake, younger brother of The 1st Baron Wallscourt. He grew up on the Ardfry Estate, near Maree, where his father was the estate agent. He was educated at Eton before joining the 85th Regiment of Foot at the age of 15. When, at 18, he unexpectedly inherited the Ardfry Estate and the Wallscourt title on the death of his first cousin, he abandoned his military career. It was during subsequent travels in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, according to Lord Wallscourt, that he was first impressed by "some of the theories, then much debated, for lifting the labourer into the position of partner with the capitalist." Following a visit to the co-operative commune at

Ralahine Ralahine ''( Irish, Ráth Fhlaithín)'' is a townland of County Clare, it is best known for its historic and extraordinary experiment in communism in 1831, long before communism, as we have come to know it, became a reality. The Ralahine Commune ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

–about from his home–he attempted to implement socialist theories on his own estate. The results, evidently, were mixed, but he persisted until his early death of cholera in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In the last years of his life, Lord Wallscourt joined the

Irish Confederation The Irish Confederation was an Irish nationalist independence movement, established on 13 January 1847 by members of the Young Ireland movement who had seceded from Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association. Historian T. W. Moody described it as "th ...

, but, while he supported the French revolutionaries of 1848, he could not be convinced that armed revolution was a practical proposition in the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

-stricken

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of that time.

References

* Cunningham, 'Lord Wallscourt' pp. 94–5

Sources

* Cunningham, John. ''Lord Wallscourt of Ardfry (1797–1849): an early Irish socialist'', Journal of the Galway Archaeological & Historical Society, vol.57 (2005), pp. 90–112. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallscourt, Joseph Blake, 3rd Baron 1797 births 1849 deaths People from County Galway Barons in the Peerage of Ireland People educated at Eton College Irish socialists Deaths from cholera 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers) officers Infectious disease deaths in France

See also

References

Sources