Ernley Blackwell

Who was Ernley Blackwell?

Sir Ernley Robertson Hay Blackwell KCB, was a British lawyer and career civil servant. The youngest son of Surgeon-Major James Hay Blackwell, H.E.I.C.S., and his wife, Eliza Jane Robertson of 3, Gillespie terrace, St Andrews, Blackwell was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, where, as captain of school, he early displayed his leadership skills, combining these with sporting prowess, as captain of the 1st XI, 1st XV, and of the golf team. Destined for the legal profession, he was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in 1892. Subsequently, he spent his career in Whitehall as a member of the British Civil Service, rising to senior appointments, first as Assistant Secretary at the Home Department from 1906 to 1913, and then as Legal Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1913 until his retirement in 1933.

As chief legal advisor to the Cabinet, Blackwell was involved in the prosecution of Roger Casement, and authorised the circulation of his disputed black diaries, saying in summer 1916: