History

General William Blakeney, 1st Baron Blakeney, was born at Mount Blakeney in co.Limerick, Ireland, in September 1671 or 1672, eldest son of William and Elizabeth (Bowerman). He served in the army and is reputed to have been the first to drill troops by signal of drums or colours. After service in the West Indies he went to Scotland and defeated a Jacobite assault on Stirling Castle. In 1747 he became Lieutenant-Governor of Minorca. This island fell to the French in 1756 after a gallant defence led by William. He was created a Knight of the Bath and his brass stall plate still exists in the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey. It shows his coat of arms: sable, a chevron ermine between three leopards’ faces, or (ie a black shield with an ermine patterned chevron between three golden leopard faces). His motto (translated from the Latin) is “My help is from above”. He died unmarried in 1761 and his estates passed to his brother Robert. William is buried in the nave of the Abbey but the gravestone is now very faint:

“THE RT.HON.WILLIAM LORD BLAKENEY.DIED 20 SEP 1761 AGED 91”.