Edmund Thomas Blacket (25 August 1817 – 9 February 1883) was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, and numerous other churches. is the 237th day of the year (238th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Architect (disambiguation). ... The University of Sydney, established in Sydney in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia. ... St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney is the cathedral church of the Anglican diocese of Sydney, and the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of NSW, The Most Rev Dr Peter Jensen. ...

Early Life

Edmund Blacket was the son of James Blacket a prosperous slopseller or draper of Smithfield, London, and his wife Margaret Harriot Ralph, and was born at 85 St Margaret's Hill (later Borough High Street) Southwark. He was raised in a strict Congregational atmosphere and educated at Mill Hill School, near Barnet. On leaving school he went into his father's office and three years later, at the age of 20, took a position in a linen mill in Stokesley Yorkshire. This mill was owned by his father in partnership with a Thomas Mease. However the Blackets closed the partnership with Mease in July 1837 as they were unhappy about certain financial matters, and by March 1838, the whole business was in Chancery. However Edmund had fallen in love with Mease's daughter Sarah and earned his father's displeasure by marrying her in May 1842. Edmund was much interested in architecture and spent his holidays sketching and measuring old buildings, but his father opposed his taking up this profession, and in June 1842 Blacket and his new wife left England intending to settle in New Zealand. He had letters of introduction to prominent residents of Sydney, including Sir Charles Nicholson, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and Bishop William Grant Broughton. It seems strange that this recommendation was from the Archbishop of Canterbury, considering that Blacket was of a dissenting family, but Edmund had an uncle James William Freshfield MP who was not without influence. A slopseller was an English merchant who sold slops or rough working dress. ... Smithfield is the name of several places in England, the United States of America, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other places with the same name, see Southwark (disambiguation). ... Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation indepedently and autonomously runs its own affairs. ... Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, London, is a coeducational independent school for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18. ... Statistics Population: 4750 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: NZ524087 Administration District: Hambleton Shire county: North Yorkshire Region: Yorkshire and the Humber Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: North Yorkshire Historic county: Yorkshire (North Riding) Services Police force: North Yorkshire Police Ambulance service: Yorkshire Post office and... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... One of the courts of equity in England and Wales. ... This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ... Charles Nicholson was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. ... Thomas Sutcliffe Mort was born in Lancashire in 1816 and arrived in Sydney in 1838. ... William Grant Broughton (22 May 1788 - 20 February 1853) was the first (and only) Bishop of Australia of the Church of England. ... The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader and senior clergyman of the Church of England, recognized by convention as the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... The term dissenter (from the Latin dissentire, to disagree), labels one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. ... James William Freshfield (8th April 1774-27 June 1864) was a lawyer and founder of the international law firm of Freshfields. ...

Architect in Australia

Soon after his arrival in Australia in November 1842, Blacket obtained a position as an inspector of buildings and teacher in the Church of England schools, and decided to stay. Edmund started designing churches and houses at least from 1843. Some of the earliest churches he was involved with were St John's Ashfield (1843), St Mary's Balmain (1843) and St Paul's Carcoar (1845).

In 1847 Blacket was officially appointed Diocesan Architect for the Church of England, while still continuing with his private practice. In January 1849 he took in an articled pupil, William Kemp who was later to become an architect of some note, and in 1850 he was appointed Colonial Architect for New South Wales. His salary was only £300 a year and the discovery of gold having caused much increase in the price of living, Blacket in 1854 resigned from the public service and began private practice. He had been promised the main building for the University of Sydney, which was begun at the end of that year and finished about 1860. The main front measures 125 metres (410 feet) in length, and has a tower in the centre 27 m (90 feet) high. The great hall, a beautifully proportioned piece of work at the right hand end, is 41 m (135 feet) by 14 m (45 feet), with an open-timbered roof 21 m (70 feet) from the floor. The Senate is said to have asked him to sign his buildings, and as a result the Blacket arms are to be seen on the south wall of the main wing, completed about 1860. Blacket was also responsible for the St Paul's College building. The New South Wales Government Architect // Francis Greenway 1816-1822 The first official architect for the colony of New South Wales in a role that would become the New South Wales Government Architect was Francis Greenway. ... “NSW” redirects here. ... The University of Sydney, established in Sydney in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia. ... St. ...

Blacket became established as a leading architect in Sydney and was especially known for his churches. Among these may be mentioned St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, for which he was not entirely responsible; Goulburn cathedral; St Phillp's, Sydney; St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney; St Mark's, Darling Point; St John's, Glebe; St Stephen's, Newtown; St Paul's, Burwood and St John's, Ashfield. He was also responsible for the completion of St John's College, University of Sydney, carrying on after Wardel resigned. It is possibly regrettable that he was not asked to work out a plan for later university buildings, but it is likely that the immense development of the university would have caused such a plan to have had little value. Blacket died suddenly at Sydney on 9 February 1883. His wife died many years before and there was a large family. One of his sons, Cyril Blacket, born in 1857, was in partnership with his father, afterwards designed the chapter-house for St Andrew's cathedral, and was elected president of the Institute of Architects, New South Wales, in 1903. St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney is the cathedral church of the Anglican diocese of Sydney, and the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of NSW, The Most Rev Dr Peter Jensen. ... St Thomas, North Sydney is a large Anglican Church in Sydneys North Shore. ... St John the Baptists Anglican Church, Ashfield St John the Baptist Anglican Church is a large Anglican church located between Alt and Bland Streets, Ashfield, in the inner west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ... Full name The College of St John the Evangelist Motto Nisi Dominus Frustra Unless the Lord is with us, our labor is vain Named after St John the Evangelist - author of the fourth Gospel Previous names The College of St John the Evangelist Established 1858 Sister College(s) - Rector Dr... is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Blacket was a remarkable example of a self-taught architect. He began his work at a bad period, and there was little beyond his natural good taste and his drawings of old Gothic buildings to guide him. The facade of the university building remains one of the finest pieces of Gothic in Australia, and though objection has been taken to a want of proportion between his towers and spires and the churches to which they are attached, his works have still a high place among the buildings of the period. Personally he was a man of the strictest probity with a great love for his profession, and also had many various recreational activities. He studied the classics, and was considered the leading authority on Greek in Sydney, loved music, playing the organ at the temporary wooden pro-Cathedral, was a wood carver and an amateur mechanical engineer. Most of Edmund's brothers and sisters remained in England, and descendents include his great nephews Lord Blackett and Sir Basil Blackett. The Right Honourable Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett, OM, CH, FRS (18 November 1897–13 July 1974) was a British experimental physicist known for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism. ...

List of Works

Blacket is said to have designed, or contributed to the design of 116 Churches (although only 79 are confirmed built), 40 houses, 4 Cathedrals and a great many other assorted buildings and structures. A partial list of his designs would include:

• St John's College, University of Sydney

• St John's Church, Glebe

• St Paul's College, University of Sydney

• St Jude's Church, Randwick

• St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney

• St Phillip's Church, Sydney

• St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney

• St Mark's Church, Darling Point

• St Stephen's Church, Newtown

• St Paul's Church, Burwood

• St John's Church, Ashfield

• St Paul's Church, Redfern

• All Saints, Woollahra

• St Stephen's Church, Willoughby

• Hunter Baillie Presbyterian Church, Annandale

• St John's Church, Wollombi

• St Paul's Church, Carcoar

• St Peter's Church, Watsons Bay

• St Michael's Church, Surry Hills

• St Michael's Church, Vaucluse

• Bishopscourt, Darling Point

• Presbyterian Church, East Sydney

Reference

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Blacket, Edmund". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 

The Dictionary of Australian Biography, first published in 1949, is a reference work by Percival Serle containing information on notable people associated with Australian history. ...

External Links

• Australian Dictionary of Biography
• The Blacketts of North East England

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.