Maurice Frederick Blake
By the time of World War I the Blake family had owned Danesbury House and estate for over a hundred years and were eminent members of Welwyn and Hertfordshire society. Members of the family had served as JPs, High Sheriffs, Board Guardians and one as MP for Newport, Isle of Wight. Many members of the family had served in the army, including Colonel Frederick Rodolph Blake who served in the Crimea with the 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment.
Maurice Blake was born in Welwyn on the 6th October 1882, and baptised at
St. Marys on 6th November, eldest son of Arthur Maurice Blake and his wife Isabel. He was educated at Eton and by 1911 was already a Company Officer
with the 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, having received his
commission in 1903
During early September 1914 the 2nd Battalion was involved in the Battle of the Aisne, Maurice Blake was initially posted as ‘missing’, then on September 14th ‘wounded and missing’ and eventually ‘killed in action’. During this action the Battalion lost 8 officers, with 300 other casualties.
At the time of his death he had been engaged for just a few weeks to Miss Mary Bullen, daughter of Colonel J B Symes Bullen of Charmouth , Dorset,
see A Tragic Romance
Maurice Frederick Blake, with his brother Cecil, is also commemorated on the Eton School Memorial and by a Memorial Window in St. Mary’s Church, Welwyn.
Maurice Blake was the first Welwyn man to be lost
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