William Henry Blackmore
Encyclopedia
William Henry Blackmore (2 August 1827 - 12 April 1878) was an English lawyer
who gained a fortune by exploiting a large social network
as an investment promoter. He used his fortune for philanthropy
, primarily centred on his interest in Native Americans, but came to a tragic end as the result of a failed investment deal related to the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
.
, Wiltshire
, England, to a family claiming descent from the family of Sir Richard Blackmore the English poet and physician. His grandfather, The Reverend Richard Blackmore, was Rector of Donhead St. Mary
located on the edge of the Blackmore Vale
. He attended King's College, Bruton, a public school in the neighbouring county of Somerset and then was articled to his uncle John Lambert of the Salisbury firm of solicitors Lambert and Norton. After passing the bar exam in 1848 Henry joined the firm of solicitors Duncan, Squarey and Duncan in Liverpool
, England and soon became a full partner of Duncan, Squarey and Blackmore.
. To this end William found his family and business connections useful. In each deal the promoter either took fees, stock or both in exchange for placing bonds or shares with investors. He opened a second office in Founder's Court, Lothbury, London, had success in ventures in Europe and Africa and became well known in British and European investment circles.
On 14 May 1851 William married Mary Sidford. The couple entertained many prominent people of the time at Shepley House in Carshalton, south of London, including: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
, "Mark Twain
", John Russell Bartlett
, Sir John Evans
, Sir Arthur Church, Ernest Griset (the artist), Sir John Lubbock
, Colonel Lane Fox, Joseph W. Prestwick, and Charlotte Brontë
.
and they developed a plan for investments in lands in Virginia
, headed to Washington, D.C.
in early 1864 with letters of introduction to senators, congressmen and President Abraham Lincoln
. William made several trips to the United States to find investment opportunities, making additional deals with lands in Colorado
and New Mexico
and forming railway companies.
General William Jackson Palmer
needed financing for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad
which Blackmore placed primarily with a party of Dutch bankers. Blackmore became an investor in the United States Freehold Land and Emigration Company Limited which promoted emigration, particularly from Holland and Germany, to the 500000 acres (2,023.4 km²) Costilla Estate in the San Luis Valley, Colorado Territory.
.
In the fall of 1868 Blackmore traveled west to inspect the completion of the transcontinental railroad, locate likely mining ventures and to investigate the Mormons
. At the start of the trip Colonel Edward Bridges and Blackmore participated in a buffalo hunt organized by General Henry B. Carrington
. On the train they joined Government commissioners, Mitchell and Latham, Thomas C. Durant
, General Grenville M. Dodge
, Samuel B. Reed, Colonel Silas Seymour, Colonel Richard Irving Dodge
and Professor Ferdinand Hayden
. West of Laramie, Wyoming
, Blackmore and Bridges left the train to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah
in order to make confidential reports to unidentified industrial leaders and the British Cabinet. There was much publicity in the eastern states that the Mormons would not trade with non-Mormons, and in Britain there were concerns raised on the large numbers of British subjects who had left to join the Mormons in Utah. From October 6 to 10th 1868 John Willard Young
escorted the men providing information and guiding them around the area. Others they met with include Bishop John Sharpe, David Durant, William Henry Hooper
, President Brigham Young
and his son Joseph Angell Young
.
On a trip to the U.S. aboard the SS Russia in 1871 with Generals Sheridan
, Forsyth, and Ledlie
Blackmore was introduced to Abraham Lincoln's widow
and son, Robert Todd Lincoln
. Robert later became involved in one of William's land deals.
(1811–1888) excavated artifacts from mounds discovered in the Mississippi and Ohio valley, to form the so-called Squier-Davis collection. They had written a manuscript discussing their findings but did not have the funds to publish it.
Having been unsuccessful in his efforts to sell the 1300-piece Mound City Group collection to the Smithsonian Institution or the New York Historical Society, Davis prepared a catalogue featuring his cumulative collections and placed them up for sale on the open market. The catalogue included not only Ohio antiquities, but those from his excavations in Peru, Central America, and Denmark as well. Davis preferred having the collection remain in the United States, but no American institution came forward to make a serious monetary offer. In 1864 Blackmore acquired the entire collection of native American archaeological artefacts excavated from the mounds in the Mississippi valley, including the Squier-Davis collection. He purchased this collection from Davis for US$10,000.
William founded the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury which opened in a lavish ceremony on 4 September 1867. Dr. Humphrey Purnell Blackmore (1822–1929) and William's brother in law Edward Thomas Stevens (1828–1878) were the museum's honorary curators. Since the museum collections included the Squier and Davis collections it appears to have become something of a place of pilgrimage for American archaeologists. The 1907 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica described the museum as "one of the finest collections of prehistoric antiquities in England." In 1899 the eminent U.S. ethnographer George Amos Dorsey
(1868–1931) wrote; "The Blackmore Museum of Salisbury contains one of the best selected and arranged collections of man's prehistoric relics that I have ever seen."
William significantly sponsored the 1872 survey expedition of the Yellowstone region led by Ferdinand Hayden
, also funding equipment for photographer William Henry Jackson
and painter Thomas Moran
. William and his wife travelled with the expedition. Hayden named a newly discovered mineral Blackmorite in thanks for William's support.
Blackmore commissioned photographers like Jackson to photograph Native Americans. Some accompanied the survey expeditions, some he contacted and acquired their existing prints and some made portraits of natives visiting Washington. The work of some twenty-eight photographers were to be found in Blackmore's photographic collection. These included Antonio Zeno Shindler (d.1899), Alexander Gardner (1821–1882), Orloff R. Westman, and Dr. William Abraham Bell (1841–1920). The collections also included commercially available carte de vistes and stereoscopic views.
William took prints for display at the museum but asked that the negatives be left for students to study. The original set of photographs is referred to as the Blackmore Collection. Some photographers continued to make portraits after Blackmore left and those expanded were named for the photographer.
His brother, Dr. Humphrey Purnell Blackmore, a physician, surgeon and archaeologist was one of the founders of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum which was primarily dedicated to local artifacts. In 1902 the two museums were amalgamated, taking the latter name. Following Humphrey Blackmore's death, a significant number of Blackmore Museum artifacts were distributed to other museums including the Smithsonian Institution
, the Birmingham Museum
, and the British Museum
. In 1932 Barbara Aitken, a prominent anthropologist who had worked with the innovative educator and passionate amateur archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett (1865–1946), secured a substantial set of Blackmore's papers relating to his activities in New Mexico for the Historical Society of New Mexico. This material also included some 112 photographs in carte de visite, stereoscopic, Cabinet and other formats. Blackmore's museum, whose name had become incorporated with that of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum after his death – and amalgamated in 1902 - finally disappeared in 1968. The remnants of his museum moved from its purpose built setting adjoining the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in St. Ann Street to The King's House in the Cathedral Close in 1981 and the building was subsequently converted into residential apartments.
. William purchased land and donated it to the town for a cemetery. Ferdinand Hayden named Mount Blackmore
in Mary's honor.
In 1871 he sent his brother Henry and cousin George Blackmore and their families to look after lands in Colorado
. A world recession hit in 1873, investors became agitated, American partners were taking advantage of William's absence leading to a stressful situation for the promoter. In 1877 his sister Blanche and her husband Arthur Boyle (1840–1910), whom she had married in that year, emigrated to America to look after Blackmore's property in New Mexico. Back in England William was suffering from a fall, overwork, lack of rest and over-indulgence. Humphrey prescribed some time away in the South of England. However, after a drinking binge he suffered a sun stroke, returning home in worse condition. Blackmore's business investments fell into more and more precarious states. He was unable to raise funding to travel to the USA sort matters out. On 12 April 1878 William shot himself in his study at Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, London, near Victoria Station.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who gained a fortune by exploiting a large social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
as an investment promoter. He used his fortune for philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
, primarily centred on his interest in Native Americans, but came to a tragic end as the result of a failed investment deal related to the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to Rio Grande or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, is a defunct U.S. railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado in 1870; however, served mainly as a transcontinental...
.
Lawyer
William was born 2 August 1827 in SalisburySalisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England, to a family claiming descent from the family of Sir Richard Blackmore the English poet and physician. His grandfather, The Reverend Richard Blackmore, was Rector of Donhead St. Mary
Donhead St. Mary
Donhead St Mary is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The parish includes the smaller settlement of Coombe.-Local government:Donhead St Mary is a civil parish with an elected parish council...
located on the edge of the Blackmore Vale
Blackmore Vale
The Blackmore Vale is a vale, or wide valley, in north Dorset, and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England. The vale is part of the Stour valley...
. He attended King's College, Bruton, a public school in the neighbouring county of Somerset and then was articled to his uncle John Lambert of the Salisbury firm of solicitors Lambert and Norton. After passing the bar exam in 1848 Henry joined the firm of solicitors Duncan, Squarey and Duncan in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England and soon became a full partner of Duncan, Squarey and Blackmore.
Social network and venture capitalization
Through several maritime compensation cases William developed contacts with Americans and their representatives; as well as British and European, investors, business and political leaders. An American lawyer, Cyrus Martin Fisher, showed William the large and immediate returns to assisting ventures to find capitalVenture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
. To this end William found his family and business connections useful. In each deal the promoter either took fees, stock or both in exchange for placing bonds or shares with investors. He opened a second office in Founder's Court, Lothbury, London, had success in ventures in Europe and Africa and became well known in British and European investment circles.
On 14 May 1851 William married Mary Sidford. The couple entertained many prominent people of the time at Shepley House in Carshalton, south of London, including: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
, "Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
", John Russell Bartlett
John Russell Bartlett
John Russell Bartlett was an American historian and linguist.-Biography:Bartlett was born in Providence, Rhode Island...
, Sir John Evans
John Evans (archaeologist)
Sir John Evans, KCB, FRS was an English archaeologist and geologist.-Biography:John Evans was the son of the Rev. Dr A. B. Evans, headmaster of Market Bosworth Grammar School, and was born at Britwell Court, Buckinghamshire...
, Sir Arthur Church, Ernest Griset (the artist), Sir John Lubbock
Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet
Sir John William Lubbock, 3rd Baronet was an English banker, barrister, mathematician and astronomer.He was born in Westminster, the son of Sir John William Lubbock, of the Lubbock & Co bank. He was educated at Eton and then Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1825...
, Colonel Lane Fox, Joseph W. Prestwick, and Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
.
American investment
On his first trip to America, 1863, William met with investors in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and they developed a plan for investments in lands in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, headed to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in early 1864 with letters of introduction to senators, congressmen and President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. William made several trips to the United States to find investment opportunities, making additional deals with lands in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and forming railway companies.
General William Jackson Palmer
William Jackson Palmer
William Jackson Palmer was an American civil engineer, soldier, industrialist, and philanthropist.-Overview:...
needed financing for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to Rio Grande or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, is a defunct U.S. railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado in 1870; however, served mainly as a transcontinental...
which Blackmore placed primarily with a party of Dutch bankers. Blackmore became an investor in the United States Freehold Land and Emigration Company Limited which promoted emigration, particularly from Holland and Germany, to the 500000 acres (2,023.4 km²) Costilla Estate in the San Luis Valley, Colorado Territory.
Social network extends
In January 1864, while in New York meeting with investors William attended the opera as the guest of August BelmontAugust Belmont
August Belmont, Sr. was an American politician.-Early life:August Belmont was born in Alzey, Hesse, on December 8, 1813--some sources say 1816--to Simon and Frederika Elsass Schönberg, a Jewish family. After his mother's death, when he was seven, he lived with his uncle and grandmother in Frankfurt...
.
In the fall of 1868 Blackmore traveled west to inspect the completion of the transcontinental railroad, locate likely mining ventures and to investigate the Mormons
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
. At the start of the trip Colonel Edward Bridges and Blackmore participated in a buffalo hunt organized by General Henry B. Carrington
Henry B. Carrington
Henry Beebee Carrington was a lawyer, professor, prolific author, and an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War and in the Old West during Red Cloud's War...
. On the train they joined Government commissioners, Mitchell and Latham, Thomas C. Durant
Thomas C. Durant
Thomas Clark Durant, was an American financier and railroad promoter. He was vice-president of the Union Pacific in 1869 when it met with the Central Pacific railroad at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory...
, General Grenville M. Dodge
Grenville M. Dodge
Grenville Mellen Dodge was a Union army officer on the frontier and during the Civil War, a U.S. Congressman, businessman, and railroad executive who helped construct the Transcontinental Railroad....
, Samuel B. Reed, Colonel Silas Seymour, Colonel Richard Irving Dodge
Richard Irving Dodge
Richard Irving Dodge was a colonel in the United States Army.Dodge was born in North Carolina and died after a long and successful career in the U.S. Army. He began as a cadet in 1844 and retired as a Colonel May 19, 1891....
and Professor Ferdinand Hayden
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden
Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.-Early life:Ferdinand Hayden was born in Westfield, Massachusetts...
. West of Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
, Blackmore and Bridges left the train to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
in order to make confidential reports to unidentified industrial leaders and the British Cabinet. There was much publicity in the eastern states that the Mormons would not trade with non-Mormons, and in Britain there were concerns raised on the large numbers of British subjects who had left to join the Mormons in Utah. From October 6 to 10th 1868 John Willard Young
John Willard Young
John Willard Young was a leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He is one of the few individuals to have been an apostle of the LDS Church and a member of the First Presidency without ever having been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.-Early life and apostolic...
escorted the men providing information and guiding them around the area. Others they met with include Bishop John Sharpe, David Durant, William Henry Hooper
William Henry Hooper
William Henry Hooper was a U.S. Congressional delegate from the Territory of Utah.Born in Cambridge, Maryland, Hooper attended the common schools. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and moved to Illinois in 1835 and settled in Galena, where he engaged in trade on the Mississippi River...
, President Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
and his son Joseph Angell Young
Joseph Angell Young
Joseph Angell Young was an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Young is one of the few Latter-day Saints in history to have been ordained to the office of apostle without ever becoming a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency of the...
.
On a trip to the U.S. aboard the SS Russia in 1871 with Generals Sheridan
Philip Sheridan
Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...
, Forsyth, and Ledlie
James H. Ledlie
James Hewett Ledlie was a civil engineer for American railroads and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is best known for his dereliction of duty at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg.-Early life:Ledlie was born in Utica, New York...
Blackmore was introduced to Abraham Lincoln's widow
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.-Life before the White House:...
and son, Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln...
. Robert later became involved in one of William's land deals.
Philanthropy
From the mid 1840s, archaeologists Ephraim George Squier (1821–1888) and Edwin Hamilton DavisEdwin Hamilton Davis
Edwin Hamilton Davis was an American archaeologist and physician who did pioneering investigations of the mound relics in the Mississippi Valley.-Medical career:...
(1811–1888) excavated artifacts from mounds discovered in the Mississippi and Ohio valley, to form the so-called Squier-Davis collection. They had written a manuscript discussing their findings but did not have the funds to publish it.
Having been unsuccessful in his efforts to sell the 1300-piece Mound City Group collection to the Smithsonian Institution or the New York Historical Society, Davis prepared a catalogue featuring his cumulative collections and placed them up for sale on the open market. The catalogue included not only Ohio antiquities, but those from his excavations in Peru, Central America, and Denmark as well. Davis preferred having the collection remain in the United States, but no American institution came forward to make a serious monetary offer. In 1864 Blackmore acquired the entire collection of native American archaeological artefacts excavated from the mounds in the Mississippi valley, including the Squier-Davis collection. He purchased this collection from Davis for US$10,000.
William founded the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury which opened in a lavish ceremony on 4 September 1867. Dr. Humphrey Purnell Blackmore (1822–1929) and William's brother in law Edward Thomas Stevens (1828–1878) were the museum's honorary curators. Since the museum collections included the Squier and Davis collections it appears to have become something of a place of pilgrimage for American archaeologists. The 1907 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica described the museum as "one of the finest collections of prehistoric antiquities in England." In 1899 the eminent U.S. ethnographer George Amos Dorsey
George Amos Dorsey
George Amos Dorsey was an U.S. ethnographer of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a special focus on the Mandan tribe.Dorsey was born in Hebron, Ohio, to Edwin Jackson and Mary Emma Dorsey....
(1868–1931) wrote; "The Blackmore Museum of Salisbury contains one of the best selected and arranged collections of man's prehistoric relics that I have ever seen."
William significantly sponsored the 1872 survey expedition of the Yellowstone region led by Ferdinand Hayden
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden
Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.-Early life:Ferdinand Hayden was born in Westfield, Massachusetts...
, also funding equipment for photographer William Henry Jackson
William Henry Jackson
William Henry Jackson was an American painter, Civil War, geological survey photographer and an explorer famous for his images of the American West...
and painter Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran from Bolton, England was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family took residence in New York where he obtained work as an artist...
. William and his wife travelled with the expedition. Hayden named a newly discovered mineral Blackmorite in thanks for William's support.
Blackmore commissioned photographers like Jackson to photograph Native Americans. Some accompanied the survey expeditions, some he contacted and acquired their existing prints and some made portraits of natives visiting Washington. The work of some twenty-eight photographers were to be found in Blackmore's photographic collection. These included Antonio Zeno Shindler (d.1899), Alexander Gardner (1821–1882), Orloff R. Westman, and Dr. William Abraham Bell (1841–1920). The collections also included commercially available carte de vistes and stereoscopic views.
William took prints for display at the museum but asked that the negatives be left for students to study. The original set of photographs is referred to as the Blackmore Collection. Some photographers continued to make portraits after Blackmore left and those expanded were named for the photographer.
His brother, Dr. Humphrey Purnell Blackmore, a physician, surgeon and archaeologist was one of the founders of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum which was primarily dedicated to local artifacts. In 1902 the two museums were amalgamated, taking the latter name. Following Humphrey Blackmore's death, a significant number of Blackmore Museum artifacts were distributed to other museums including the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, the Birmingham Museum
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...
, and the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. In 1932 Barbara Aitken, a prominent anthropologist who had worked with the innovative educator and passionate amateur archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett (1865–1946), secured a substantial set of Blackmore's papers relating to his activities in New Mexico for the Historical Society of New Mexico. This material also included some 112 photographs in carte de visite, stereoscopic, Cabinet and other formats. Blackmore's museum, whose name had become incorporated with that of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum after his death – and amalgamated in 1902 - finally disappeared in 1968. The remnants of his museum moved from its purpose built setting adjoining the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in St. Ann Street to The King's House in the Cathedral Close in 1981 and the building was subsequently converted into residential apartments.
Death
While on the expedition to Yellowstone in July 1872, Blackmore's wife Mary contracted pneumonia and died in Bozeman, MontanaBozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
. William purchased land and donated it to the town for a cemetery. Ferdinand Hayden named Mount Blackmore
Mount Blackmore
Mount Blackmore is located in Gallatin National Forest, in the U.S. state of Montana. Bozeman is located near the East Gallatin River, Gallatin County, Mount Blackmore is south of the City of Bozeman in the Gallatin Range....
in Mary's honor.
In 1871 he sent his brother Henry and cousin George Blackmore and their families to look after lands in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. A world recession hit in 1873, investors became agitated, American partners were taking advantage of William's absence leading to a stressful situation for the promoter. In 1877 his sister Blanche and her husband Arthur Boyle (1840–1910), whom she had married in that year, emigrated to America to look after Blackmore's property in New Mexico. Back in England William was suffering from a fall, overwork, lack of rest and over-indulgence. Humphrey prescribed some time away in the South of England. However, after a drinking binge he suffered a sun stroke, returning home in worse condition. Blackmore's business investments fell into more and more precarious states. He was unable to raise funding to travel to the USA sort matters out. On 12 April 1878 William shot himself in his study at Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, London, near Victoria Station.
Published work
- Colorado: Its Resources, Parks, and Prospects as a New Field for Emigration, with and Account of the Trenchara and Costilla Estates, in the San Luis Park. Published by Sampson Low, Son and Marston, 1869, London.
- A brief account of the North American Indians and particularly of the hostile tribes of the plains; principal Indian events since 1862; causes of Indian wars; Indian atrocities and western reprisals; and war of extermination now being waged between the white and red men. An Introduction to Col. Richard Irving DodgeRichard Irving DodgeRichard Irving Dodge was a colonel in the United States Army.Dodge was born in North Carolina and died after a long and successful career in the U.S. Army. He began as a cadet in 1844 and retired as a Colonel May 19, 1891....
's Hunting Grounds of the Great West'. Published by Chatto & Windus, 1877, London.
External links
- William Blackmore Collection - A collection of William Blackmore's papers obtained by the Archives of New Mexico.
- Twelve boxes of William Henry Jackson's photographs donated to the University of Iowa, William Blackmore mentioned in the Historical text.
- Business papers, estate papers, accounts, corresp. of William Blackmore, Solicitor Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, UK
- Some account of the Blackmore Museum - Online and PDF copies of the book written by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1868. 284 pages.
- Portrait of William Henry Blackmore from the Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, UK.
Addendum
- Two reasons there is so much material available on William Blackmore are: first, he was an individual who kept all his correspondence, notes and journals and his family was willing to share those documents with authors and archives; second, that he interacted with so many people in his lifetime and they or others recorded those interactions.
- Living relatives, through correspondence, related the following unsubstantiated story. William acted as solicitor for Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and travelled to the Orient with Darwin. William became addicted to opium, which was partially responsible for his ill health.