Life
1777-1853 [pseud. ‘Fitzstewart’, ‘Bannville’]; b.
1 Sept., Carrickblacker [Castle Blacker], Co. Armagh; son of Dean Blacker
of Ashgoe; ed. TCD, BA 1799, MA 1803; styled lieutenant -colonel of Seagoe
Battalion of Yeomenry 1796; led an Orange contingent at the Battle of
the Diamond on 21 Sept. 1795 nr. Loughgall, Co. Armagh - in which the
Orange Order had its formal origin - and later assisted at the suppression
of the United Irishmen, his battalion former the guard at the execution
of Henry Monro; appt. became High Sheriff of Armagh; contrib. Dublin
University Magazine and other journals, earning the reputation as
military songsmith and author of the Orange ballad "Cromwell’s
Advice" (‘So put your trust in God, boys, and keep your powder
dry"; also, "The Protestant Boys", a ballad in which this
attitude towards Catholics is expressed: "We hate them as masters,
we love them as men"; ssued Ardmagh (1848), a narrative poem
dealing wtih the history of Armagh and describing the Round towers to
Phoenician ‘fire-tower’, while characterising the Famine as
an act of wrath from the hand of God; also religious works, Early Piety
(1853); A Tale of Woe (1854); Emmaus (1855); his poetry
remained uncollected; d. 25 Nov., at Carrickblacker. DNB MKA ODQ RAF
FDA OCIL
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Works
“Oliver’s Advice” [sic but commonly known as “Cromwell’s
Advice ”], Dublin University Magazine, IV, 24, Dec. 1834,
p. 700-01; Ardmagh (1848).
Criticism
‘Lieut.-Col. Blacker’ [“Our Portrait Gallery”, No.
18], Dublin University Magazine, Vol. 17 (1841), pp.628-33 [prob.
the historian of the Mahratta War]; see also the biographical notice in
Irish Book Lover, Vol. IV, No. 10 (May 1913); Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ulster (Belfast: Blackstaff 1992),
p.226: Battle of the Diamond, 21 Sept. 1795, near Loughgall, at a cross-roads
of that name, recounted by one William Blacker (quoting from David W Miller,
ed., Peep o’ Day and Defenders, Selected documents on the Co.
Armagh disturbances (Belfast 1990), p.121; Bryan Coleborne, ‘"They
Sate in Counterview", Anglo-Irish Verse in the Eighteenth Century’,
in Paul Hyland and Neil Sammells, eds., Irish Writing, Exile and Subversion
(London: Macmillan 1991), pp.45-63; Kevin Whelan, ‘Origins
of the Orange Order’, in Bullán: An Irish Studies Journal,
2, 2 (Spring/Summer 1996), p.21
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Notes
Dictionary of National Biography has an entry for Valentine
Blacker (1770-1823) only, historian of Mahratta War of 1817-1819, later
Lieutenant-Colonel Blacker. Note, Early Piety (1853); A Tale
of Woe (1854); Emmaus (1855), all in Belfast Central Library,
are probably by his son and namesake along with the economic works Management
of Landed Property in Ireland (1835); Claims of the Landed Interest
to Legislative Protection (Dublin: Wm. Curry 1836); Evils of Mixed
Currency (1844); Essay on the Improvement to [...] small
farms by introduction of green crops: an address (Curry 1845), all
listed in the British Library.
D. J. O’Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical Dictionary (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co 1912); b. Carrickblacker, Armagh 1777, d. 1853; his poems not collected but MSS held by family; contrib. Dublin University Magazine as ‘Fitzstewart’ and ‘Bannville’; auth. of Orange Ballads [vide supra]; other works include Early Piety (Portadown 1853); A Tale of Woe (Portadown 1854), for children; Emmaus (Portadown 1855), on Easter. [Note, Portadown publications prob. by another author.] O’Donoghue attribs. Ardmagh to Lieut.-Col. Valentine Blacker the poetical works Ardmagh, A Chronicle; The Fire Towers; Carmel, etc. [1 vol. in Belfast Central Library], and notes that these are attrib. to William Blacker in Sparling’s Irish Minstrelsy. PI assured that Blacker died 1825.
Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English, The Romantic Period, 1789-1850 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980), Vol. 2; cites "Oliver’s Advice" [sic] which appeared in Dublin University Magazine, IV, 24, Dec. 1834, p. 700-01.
Brian McKenna, Irish literature, 1800-1875: a Guide to Information Sources (Detroit: Gale Research Co. 1978), lists Ardmagh (1848); Early Piety (1853); A Tale of Woe (1854), and Emmaus (1855), and refers to notice Our Portrait Gallery: No. 18, ‘Lieut.-Col. Blacker’, Dublin University Magazine, 17 (1841), pp.628-33.
Oxford Book of Quotations gives Blacker’s “Cromwell’s Advice”; also in John Cooke, Dublin Book of Irish Verse (1909) and noticed with bibl. in Field Day Anthology, gen. ed. Seamus Deane, (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 1, pp.29-32.
Belfast Linen Hall Library cuttings collection of F. J. Bigger’s literary journalism compiled by John [J. J.] Marshall, renders the following information: Lieutenant-Col. William Blacker, Seagoe Battalion of Yeomenry 1796; three sargeants inc. Sargeant-Major Lutton; his batt. was guard at the execution of Henry Monro; William was Captain, son of Dean Blacker of Ashgoe; became High Sheriff of Armagh; holds Ardmagh, Col. William Blacker.
British Library holds William Blacker: Ardmagh (1848), Claims of the Landed Interest to Legislative Protection (Curry 1836); Evils of Mixed Currency (1844), and an essay on the Corn-Laws, all published by Curry.
Belfast Public Library holds Ardmagh; also Essay on the Improvement to ... small farms by introduction of green crops ... an address (Curry 1845); also Management of Landed Property in Ireland (1835).
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Allusion to Blacker’s "Cromwell’s Advice" saying,
in Shan Bullock’s The Awkward Squads (p.31), and to ‘The
Protestant Boys’, in Red-Leaguers .
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations attributes the verses ‘Put your trust in God [... &c.]’ to by Valentine Blacker, 1778-1823, whereas Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations cites William Blacker, ascribing the original remark to Cromwell in an Appendix. BL Catalogue also holds Valentine Blacker, History of the Mahratta War, 1815-19, and no other works by that author.
Blacker was a witness to the Battle of the Diamond, and served as Treasurer of Ireland through influence (see Irish Book Lover, Vol. IV, No 10, 1913).
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)