Page 26 - ‘A Blaker Family History’ The family history of Joseph Blaker (1916-2007; ‘Joe’)

© The Blaker Society
© The Blaker Society

Streatham
Reason for Interest
Location
History

6. Blaker Family Lineage

6.1 Introduction
The current research was initiated in 2004, when parallel projects were started
to discover more about my lineage and that of my wife, Juliet Blaker (nee
Hammond). Access to key databases has been invaluable, notably:
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.findmypast.co.uk
www.familysearch.org
www.blaker.org.uk

The current research demonstrates a lineage over 15 generations back to c.
1502, with the information in the early centuries largely based upon the work of
Walter Charles Renshaw and additional investigations collated by, or driven by,
‘The Blaker Society’. Since these were key to the project, it is worth dwelling on
them before focusing on my Blaker family history.

6.1.1 Walter Charles Renshaw (1840-1922)
Walter Charles Renshaw was the eldest of 7 children born to Thomas Charles
Renshaw (1810-1886) and Elizabeth Blaker (1816-1893). Walter was educated
at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and became a Queens Counsellor. He wrote a
genealogy and family history called ‘Searches into the History of the Family Blaker

of Sussex’, published in 1896, and to which he added a second edition in 1904. It
is a key reference text for anyone researching the Blaker genealogy.

Walter’s obituary was published in ‘The Times’ newspaper on 18 July 1922:
‘We regret to announce the death of Mr. Walter Charles Renshaw, K.C., on Sunday

night, at his residence, Sandrocks, Hayward's Heath.
Mr. Renshaw, who was in his 82nd year, will be better remembered by the older
generations of lawyers, but his career was a distinguished one. Coming of a legal
stock [his father was the late Thomas Charles Renshaw QC] Mr. Renshaw was
educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge [LL.M 1886], was called to the bar in 1864,
and became, as his father had been, a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1890. He
practised on the Chancery side, and in addition to his own practice, was for many
years a member of the Council of Law Reporting, and of the Bar Committee, and for
some years served on the Supreme Court Rule Committee. He was in his later years

a Justice of the Peace in Sussex, and a member of the Baronetage Committee.
Outside his profession, Mr. Renshaw achieved a reputation as archaeologist: he was
a past president of the Selden Society and remained a member of the Council till his
death. He was also chairman of the Council of the Sussex Archaeological Society
and the Sussex Records Society. Genealogy was his special study, and he
contributed several articles on that subject to archaeological papers. In his
younger days, Mr. Renshaw was fond of outdoor sports, more especially cricket,