Rowland Blackman 1705-1781

Rowland BLACKMAN 1705-1781

Blackman's bookplate (British Museum Franks Collection 2700)

Biographical Note

Son of John Lucie Blackman, plantation owner in the West Indies. Matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1723, but did not graduate; admitted at the Middle Temple 1725 (barrister, 1730). He continued to manage the family estates in Antigua and Barbados; at the time of his death he was resident in Bath.

Books

Blackman used an engraved armorial bookplate, noting his membership of the Middle Temple (Franks 2700). The extent and disposition of his library is not known; his will has no mention of books, but is largely concerned with finances and his West Indies estates. The residue of his goods was bequeathed to his daughters.

Sources

• Will of Rowland Blackman, The National Archives PROB 11/1075/130].
• Legacies of British Slavery.
• Foster, J., Alumni Oxonienses, Oxford, 1891.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J., Franks bequest. Catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed ... by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, London, 1903-4.