Trevor Ramsey Villiers Blakemore (13 October 1879 – 8 July 1953) was an English poet and author.
Early life
Born in Chislehurst, Kent, Blakemore was the son of Ramsey Blakemore, a merchant, of St Leonards-on-Sea,"BLAKEMORE, Trevor Ramsey" in John Archibald Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses; a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900 (Cambridge, University Press), Volume 1, Part 2, p. 290 and Anna Maria Elizabeth Baynes, who had married at Wimbledon in 1867."Ramsey Blakemore" in England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973: "Name: Ramsey Blakemore / Marriage Date: 13 Jun 1867 / Marriage Place: Wimbledon, Surrey, England / Spouse: Anna Maria Elizabeth Baynes / FHL Film Number: 0991780, 0991781" He had an older sister, Ethel Agnes Annette, born about 1872. His father died in 1891.
He was educated at Hurst Court School, Hastings, Wellington College, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was admitted on 1 October 1897 and graduated BA in 1900.
Career Apart from his work as a poet, Blakemore was the author of a biography of the painter Herbert Schmalz, published in 1911.
In the 1920s, Blakemore spent part of his life on Sark in the Channel Islands, and much of his poetry was inspired by the island.Vivien Noakes, Isaac Rosenberg: 21st-Century Oxford Authors (2008), p. 428
In the 1930s, Blakemore was a member of the selection committee of the Right Book Club, with Anthony Ludovici, Norman Thwaites, Collinson Owen, and W. A. Foyle.E. H. H. Green, Ideologies of Conservatism: Conservative Political Ideas in the Twentieth Century (Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 151G. C. Webber, The Ideology of the British Right, 1918–1939 (Croom Helm, 1986) p. 161
In 1955, after Blakemore's death, Poems by Trevor Blakemore was published by Neville Spearman, edited by Robert Gittings and Ann Blakemore, with a foreword by Sir Compton Mackenzie.Robert Gittings, “Introduction”, and Compton Mackenzie, “Foreword”, in death, Poems by Trevor Blakemore (London: Neville Spearman, 1955), pp. 5–8
Personal life In 1911, Blakemore was living in Devonshire Terrace, Lancaster Gate, London W2, with his widowed mother, an older sister, and three servants.1911 United Kingdom census, 4, Devonshire Terrace, London W2, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 23 July 2021 His mother died in 1928, and his sister in 1947."BLAKEMORE Ethel Agnes Annette of 4 Devonshire-terrace Lancaster Gate… died 18 May 1947… Effects £52683 17s. 10d." in Wills and Administrations 1947 (1948), p. 604
On Saturday 6 September 1947 at St James Church on Lancaster Gate, West London Times Friday 12 September 1947, page 3 Blakemore married Ann Florence May Driver,"Trevor R V Blakemore" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 23 July 2021 whom he had known since 1932.;“Retrospect for Ann”, in Poems by Trevor Blakemore (1955), p. 45 Ann Driver was a broadcaster for BBC School Radio and her brother was the headmaster of Spalding Grammar School.
At the time of his death, in 1953, they were living at 4, Devonshire Terrace, where he died. He left a personal estate valued at £62,728,"BLAKEMORE Trevor Ramsey Villiers otherwise Trevor Ramsey of 4 Devonshire-terrace Lancaster Gate London W2 died 8 July 1953" in Wills and Administrations 1954 (1955), p. 608 .
In his introduction to Poems by Trevor Blakemore , Compton Mackenzie said:
In the 1958 New Year Honours, Blakemore's widow was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to the musical education of children.The London Gazette, Issue 41268, 31 December 1957 (Supplement), p. 16: "Miss Ann Florence May Driver (Mrs. Trevor Blakemore). For services to the musical education of children."
Publications Trevor Blakemore, The art of Herbert Schmalz : with monographs on certain pictures by various writers, and 64 illustrations (London: George Allen, 1911)Trevor Blakemore, royalacademy.org.uk, accessed 23 July 2021 Trevor Blakemore, Poems And Ballads (London: Elkin Mathews, 1912) Trevor Blakemore, The Flagship and Other Poems (London: Erskine MacDonald, 1915) Trevor Blakemore, China Clay, illustrated by Molly MacArthur (W. Heffer & Sons, 1922) Trevor Blakemore, Moonset and Other Poems (London: Elkin Mathews, 1924) Trevor Blakemore, Elementals (London: W. & G. Foyle, 1935) William Alwyn, 3 Songs to Words by Trevor Blakemore (1940) The Ballades of Trevor Blakemore (1955) Poems by Trevor Blakemore, with foreword by Compton Mackenzie (London: Neville Spearman, 1955)
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