Charles William Blakeney

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Mary-Ann Cook who writes:
BLAKENEY, CHARLES WILLIAM (1802-1876), judge and politician, was born at Cooltigue Castle, County Roscommon, Ireland, and baptized on 15 July 1802, the eldest son of Rev. Thomas Blakeney, rector of Roscommon, and his wife Alicia, daughter of Archbishop William Newcome, primate of Ireland. In January 1820 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, but left without taking a degree. In 1826 he married Ellen Frances, daughter and coheir of John Jeffries of Blarney Castle, County Cork. He was called to the Bar in London in 1831 and became a barrister in Ireland in 1836. In 1845 he inherited the family property, Holywell, in Roscommon, but his extravagance and gambling debts forced him to place it with the Encumbered Estates Court. Joining his eldest son William Theophilus (1832-1898) in New South Wales in 1859, Blakeney quickly achieved success in the Northern Circuit Court of Moreton Bay as a barrister.
In mid-1859 Blakeney settled in Brisbane and was elected to the first Legislative Assembly in May 1860 for the Brisbane electorate. As a `legal member` Blakeney invariably debated judicial matters before the assembly and served as chairman of committees in 1861-63. As a `liberal` he believed in National education but also advocated state aid to denominational schools, attempted to introduce triennial parliaments and pressed for electoral reform, arguing that in this squatter-dominated parliament Brisbane had a third of the population but only a quarter of the representatives. In the 1863 select committee on the operation and working of the Immigration Acts Blakeney joined the chairman, George Raff, in recommending the continuance of a land order system which brought men with some capital to the colony, but the government wanted only labouring immigrants. Blakeney was elected to the second parliament in July 1863, but resigned on 1 December 1865 on being appointed first judge of the Western District Court which covered Condamine, Roma and Dalby. As presiding judge Blakeney was involved in the notorious Bowen Downs cattle-stealing case on which Boldrewood based an episode in Robbery Under Arms.

Charles married Ellen Frances Jeffries in 1826. (Ellen Frances Jeffries was born circa 1805 and died on 7 Apr 1897 in Brisbane, Queensland Australia.)