Edith Bernal-Osborne
(1846-1926)

 

Volume 1, page 242, sitting number 1148.

[An inked inscription verso in a period hand reads: ‘Edith Osborne, eldest daughter of Ralph Bernal Osborne, MP, & Mrs Osborne, 1860, Newton Anner.’]

Born on 7 February 1846 at Newton Anner House near Clonmel in County Tipperary, Edith Bernal Osborne was the eldest daughter of the British politician Ralph Bernal Osborne and his wife Catherine. Her parents separated when she was young and Edith was raised by her artistic mother in Ireland, where she developed an early interest in botany.

On 7 February 1874 she married Henry Arthur Blake, a widower then serving in the Royal Irish Constabulary who later became a colonial administrator. In 1884 he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. Subsequent posts included Newfoundland (1887-1888) and Jamaica (1889-1897). Between 1898 and 1903 he was the Governor of Hong Kong. His last appointment in the Colonial Service was as Governor of Ceylon, a post he filled from 1903 to 1907. Throughout his peregrinations he was accompanied by his wife, who spent her time studying and painting the local fauna and floral. Wherever they went, Edith took a keen interest in local culture; she spoke nine languages, including Irish, Russian and Chinese.

Edith published Twelve Months in Southern Europe (1876), her notes and sketches from an early tour of Austria, Italy, Greece and Turkey. She later contributed to various English and American scientific journals. Her work is preserved today in several museums and institutions, including the Natural History Museum in London and the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin. The National Museum of the Native American in New York holds her collection of Native American artefacts from the Bahamas.

On Henry’s retirement in 1907 the Blakes returned to Ireland, where they settled at Youghal in County Cork. Henry died there in 1918. Edith died on 18 April 1926. They are buried together in the garden of the house.

[A portrait of the sitter's mother, taken on the same occasion, appears on page 47 of this section.]