Ernest Edward Blake

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Sir Ernest Edward Blake (1845–30 November 1920) was a British colonial official who served as Crown Agent for the Colonies from 1881 to 1909.

He was born in 1845, the son of Rev. Edmund Blake, rector of Bramerton, Norfolk, and he attended Norwich grammar school. He joined the Colonial Office in 1863, finishing first in his class. In 1872 he became Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Kimberley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and briefly served as Private Secretary in 1874. He was promoted to 1st class Clerk and Head of the General Department in 1879.

In 1881 he left the Colonial Office to become Crown Agent for the Colonies, a London-based position that acted as the main official British commercial and financial agent for all colonies. Crown Agents handled government purchases, provided capital and investment opportunities, arranged pensions, and oversaw large projects such as railways and harbours across Africa, India, and the Caribbean.

Blake also served for several years as a director of the London Assurance Company, but resigned after a Parliament debate in 1904 about such roles for Crown Agents.

He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1901 and was invested by King Edward VII in December of that year.

He lived at Hawkshill, Leatherhead, Surrey, and later moved to Uplyme, Devon, where he died on 30 November 1920, aged about 75.

In 1874 he married Catharine Isabella Blyth; she died in 1902. They had two sons, including Ernest Stephen Blake, and a daughter.