THE LATE REV. CANON THOMAS BLACKBURN, B.A., 



and His entomological Work. 



(With portrait.) 



By Arthur M. Lea. 



[Read October 10, 1912.] 



There passed away at Woodville, near Adelaide, on 

 May 28, 1912, a quiet and unassuming naturalist in the 

 person of Thomas Blackburn ; and with him Australia lost 

 one of its best entomologists. Although formerly well known 

 in England, and later doing good work in Honolulu, it was 

 nevertheless in Australia that most of his work was done. 



He was born at Islington, near Liverpool, on March 16, 

 1844. Matriculated at London University in 1866 and took 

 his B.A. degree in 1868. For a time he was in the Imperial 

 Civil Service, having gained first place in a competitive exam- 

 ination for a position in the Department of the Secretary 

 for Inland Revenue, but he soon left it for the Church of 

 England. He was ordained a Deacon by the Bishop of Man- 

 chester in May, 1869, and the following May as a Priest. He 

 had charge of the Parish of Greenhithe, 1870-76. Thence 

 he was transferred to Honolulu, where he remained for six 

 years as Senior Priest and Chaplain to the Bishop. He then 

 came to Australia and took charge as Rector of St. Thomas', 

 at Port Lincoln, in 1882. In 1886 he was appointed Rector 

 of St. Margaret's, at Woodville — a position he retained for 

 the remainder of his life. A few years ago he was also 

 appointed Honorary Canon of St. Peter's Cathedral in 

 Adelaide. 



He was twice married. First, in August, 1870, to Jessie 

 Anne Wood, daughter of C. W. Wood, Q.C., of Wandworth, 

 England, by whom he had three sons: Gavin Wordsworth, 

 now at Vancouver: Charles Bickerton, now in Sydney: and 

 Edward Forth William, now at Wagin, in Western Aus- 

 tralia. His first wife died in May, 1885. In September, 

 1886, he married Margaret Harriette Stewart Browne, 

 daughter of John Stewart Browne, S.M., of Port Lincoln, by 

 whom he had three sons and a daughter : John Stewart, Harry 

 Kenneth Baines, Margaret Browne, and Arthur Seaforth. 

 His second wife died in 1904, but all their children are now 

 resident at Woodville. 

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