John Blackett (1777/8-1858) was a clerk in the Ordnance at Harwich, Essex in 1841 and 1851 and was employed by the Ordnance as a store keeper as far back as 1814. According to the 1851 census he was born in “Middlesex, City of London”. The City of London did not form part of Middlesex and it is not, therefore, clear whether John was born in the City of London itself (i.e. the “Square Mile”) or in the surrounding area. Prior to his death he moved to Ipswich, Suffolk and was buried there.
John seems to have married at least three times, and by his marriage to Mary had a son Edmund Phipps Blackett (1830/31-1887) born in Harwich, who John seems to have named after the then head of the Ordnance Department, Hon. Edmund Phipps (see Paying homage to the boss). Edmund Phipps Blackett had at least three siblings, who were also born in Essex, though little is known of them. After Edmund’s marriage to Adelaide Elizabeth Collings (1840-1896) in London in 1861 he and his family moved to Cambridge.
John Blackett's father is shown at his third marriage in 1844 as another John Blackett, a merchant, but we have been unable to identify the John in question. For a descendancy chart of John Blackett please click here.