©bituat^ 



THE REV. JOHN IGNATIUS BLEASDALE, D.D. 



Dr. Bleasdale was born in 1822, and was a native of Lancashire. 

 At a very early age he was taken to Portugal, and his university 

 training was obtained at an English College in Lisbon. In 1844 

 he returned to England and completed his studies at St. Mary's 

 College, Oscott. He was ordained priest by the late Cardinal 

 Wiseman, and for five years was garrison-chaplain at Weedon 

 and Aylesbury. He came to Victoria in 1855, and was 

 appointed vice-president of St. Patrick's College, where he taught 

 experimental physics, having at an early age given his attention 

 to this subject. He was also secretary to the Roman Catholic 

 Archbishop. He joined the Royal Society of Victoria soon 

 after its formation, and was for many years one of its prominent 

 members, being in 1865 elected president. When in Portugal 

 he had acquired an intimate knowledge of viticulture, and in 

 the early days of wine-making in this colony he gave much 

 valuable information on the subject, and read and published 

 several papers of great practical importance on the wine industry. 

 He had also an intimate knowledge of mineralogy, especially in 

 the section of gem-stones, and he submitted frequent interesting 

 communications thereon to this society. He was president of the 

 first Intercolonial Exhibition in 1865, and ten years after he 

 succeeded in procuring the establishment of a school of chemistry, 

 assaying, and mineralogy in connection with the Public Museum, 

 to the advancement of which institution he had steadily given 

 his attention. He was elected in 1860 an honorary member of 

 the Medical Society of Victoria, a distinction not until then 

 conferred upon a non-medical man, and he occasionally read 

 papers before that body having reference to his own special 

 knowledge, but yet not uninteresting to the medical profession. 

 Outside his sacerdotal duties he was well and widely known 

 and much liked for his convivial qualities. About six years 

 ago he left this colony for California, where he soon made himself 

 known by the interest he showed in practical science and wine- 

 producing. He died there about the middle of last year. 



