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Lieutenant Colonel William Blacker (1 September 1777 – 25 November 1855) was an officer in the Armagh Militia and Seagoe Corps of Yeomanry, Commissioner of the Treasury of Ireland and author. His published work is sometimes attributed under the names Fitz Stewart or Colonel Blacker.

Life and career

Born in Carrickblacker House, in the Oneilland East barony in County Armagh, he entered Trinity College Dublin in the 1790s. Blacker was a participant at the Battle of the Diamond. There, Blacker became one of the original members of the Orange Institution. After earning his degree, Blacker obtained a commission in the 60th Regiment of Foot, then serving in the West Indies, on 3 July 1801, but poor health compelled him to return home. Joining the Armagh Militia, he was promoted to the rank of major on 7 February 1806, and to his final rank of lieutenant colonel on 5 November 1812. In 1816 his uncle Sir George Hill, 2nd Baronet, appointed Blacker to the Commission of the Treasury of Ireland. He was confirmed Lord Dublin and was the great-grandfather of Sir Cecil Blacker, Commandant of Horse.

In 1829, he inherited the family estate upon his father's death. He resigned his military office shortly after and retired to Carrickblacker House. Blacker was buried in Portadown in the Old Seagoe Cemetery.

Writings

Both William Blacker and his relative Valentine Blacker were lieutenant colonels and published authors. Because some works were published pseudonymously, the two are sometimes confused or conflated in texts. In The Dublin University Magazine, where his work often appeared, they wrote, "We know not why Colonel Blacker has chosen not to own himself the author of some papers which in the pages of our own Magazine have excited attention of which any man might feel proud."

Blacker authored a popular poem on military service, Oliver's Advice, originally published in 1834 under his occasional pseudonym, "Fitz Stewart." The poem was widely anthologized. The poem popularized a phrase attributed to Oliver Cromwell as part of a "well-authenticated anecdote." Each stanza ends with a variant of the line, "put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry." The line appeared in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations attributed to Colonel Blacker.

His 1818 song "The Crimson Banner" commemorates the Siege of Derry during the Williamite War in Ireland.

References

1. Burke's Peerage gives information for two contemporaries named William Blacker. Page 103 gives and brother of Valentine Blacker with 1776 as birth and 20 October 1850 as death. Page 104 gives a distant relative of Valentine Blacker with 1 September 1777 as birth and 1855 as death. It appears the distant relative, whose father was Dean Blacker (died 1 December 1826) was the author and subject of this biography.
2. The Army List, for January, 1815. War Office. 1815. p. 73.
3. "The Seagoe Yeomanry in 1798" (PDF). Seagoe Parish Magazine. No. September. 1939.
4. Burke, John; Burke, John Bernard (1875). Townend, Peter (ed.). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. London: Henry Colburn. p. 103.
5. Woods, C. J. (October 2009). "Blacker, William". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.000692.v1.
6. The Army List, for September, 1812. War Office. 31 August 1812. p. 79 – via Internet Archive.
7. The Army List, for January, 1815. War Office. January 1815. p. 73 – via Internet Archive.
8. "Lieut.-Col. William Blacker". The Dublin University Magazine. Vol. 17, no. 101 May. 1841.
9. Fitz Stewart (1834). "Oliver's Advice". The Dublin University Magazine. Vol. 4, no. 24 December. Dublin: William Curry, Jun. and Company. p. 700.
10. Charles Gavan, Duffy (1845). The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (5th ed.). Dublin: James Duffy. p. 83.
11. O'Hanlon, John (1893), The Poetical Works of Lageniensis [pseud.], Dublin: James Duffy and Co., Ltd., p. 140

External links

• "Lieut.-Col. William Blacker". The Dublin University Magazine. Vol. 17, no. 101 May. 1841.
• Walford, Edward (1856). "Miscellaneous: W. Blacker, Esq.". Hardwicke's Annual Biography for 1856: Containing Original & Selected Memoirs of Celebrated Characters Who Have Died During the Year 1855. London: Robert Hardwicke. pp. 387–388.
• Unknown artist. "Mrs Blacker, Lieutenant Colonel Blacker and Lady Ferguson". Art UK. Hillsborough Castle, Historic Royal Palaces.

• 1777 births
• 1855 deaths
• People from County Armagh
• Members of the Royal Irish Academy
• British Militia officers
• Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
• People educated at The Royal School, Armagh
• British Yeomanry officers
• Royal American Regiment officers
• Grand masters of the Orange Order