The Very Rev

Very Reverend

The Very Reverend is a style given to certain religious figures.*In the Roman Catholic Church, by custom, priests who hold positions of particular note: e.g...

 Lionel Edward Blackburne was an eminent Anglican priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 in the second quarter of the 20th century.

He was born 2 November 1874 and educated at Lancing College

Lancing College

Lancing College is a co-educational English independent school in the British public school tradition, founded in 1848 by Nathaniel Woodard. Woodard's aim was to provide education "based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith." Lancing was the first of a...

 and Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...

. Ordained in 1890, he began his ecclesiastical career with a curacies

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

 at All Saints, Leamington and St Martin Potternewton

Potternewton

Potternewton is a suburb and parish of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between Chapeltown and Chapel Allerton, mainly in the LS7 postcode. It is between Scott Hall Road on the West and Roundhay Road on the East, with Harehills Lane on the North...

. After this he was Vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of St Wilfrid’s, Bradford

Bradford

Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

 then Rural Dean

Rural Dean

In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...

 of Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

. From 1922 to 1936 he was Archdeacon of Surrey and from 1930 also Canon Residentiary

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 at Guildford Cathedral

Guildford Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England.-Construction:Guildford was made a diocese in its own right in 1927, and work on its new cathedral, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, began nine years later, with the foundation stone being laid...

. He was Dean of Ely

Dean of Ely

The position of Dean of Ely Cathedral, in East Anglia, England, was created at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The first Dean of Ely had been the last Benedictine prior of Ely.-List of Deans:*1541-1557 Robert Steward or Welles...

  from 1936 to 1950. He died 4 August 1951.
His brother

Harry William Blackburne

The Very Rev Harry William Blackburne DSO, MC was an Anglican clergyman, Dean of Bristol from 1934 to 1951.He was born on 25 January 1878 and educated at Tonbridge School and Clare College, Cambridge. After service as a trooper in the Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry during the Boer War he was...

 was Dean of Bristol and nephew Bishop of Thetford

Bishop of Thetford

The Bishop of Thetford is an episcopal title which takes its name after the market town of Thetford in Norfolk, England. The title was originally used by the Normans in the 11th century, and is presently used by a Church of England suffragan bishop....

.