Dr Thomas Blackall

Dr Thomas Blackall of Exeter (1814 to 1899) bought the manor of Spitchwick on Dartmoor in 1867. Worthy (1875) and Dymond (1876) name him as its lord, and William Crossing says that the road above the Dart "was made by the late Dr. Blackall, and is usually known as Dr. Blackall's Drive".

• Born / died: 1814; died Thursday 4 May 1899, aged 85, at his house, Pennsylvania, Exeter
• Family: Son of Henry Blackall, three times Mayor of Exeter (1819, 1827, 1832)
• Civic: Sheriff of Exeter in 1862
• Spitchwick: Bought at auction at the Globe Hotel, Newton Abbot, on 26 September 1867, for £11,100 (Dartmoor Society account)
• Known for: Rebuilding Spitchwick Manor and Dr Blackall's Drive

An Exeter worthy

The Exeter Flying Post of 6 May 1899 headed its notice "Death of Dr. Blackall: an Exeter worthy". It says he belonged to an old Exeter family, that his father, Mr Henry Blackall, was three times Mayor (1819, 1827 and 1832), and that he himself was Sheriff in 1862 but took no later part in civic affairs, though the city's charitable institutions received considerable support from him. It adds that during a severe winter some twenty to thirty years earlier he interested himself in relief works, making the road from Pennsylvania to the Higher Barracks in Exeter, which was named after him, and calls him "benevolent in the extreme" and "a fine old English gentleman". That road is in Exeter, not the Dartmoor drive.

At Spitchwick

According to the Dartmoor Society's account of 2013, he built on an entrance hall, a study and rooms above, a granite porch, a Minton tiled floor in the hall and passage, the Higher Lodge, a home farm house, stable and shippon, and in the 1880s Brick Cottage; he re-roofed the manor house with red tiles in the 1890s. The builder for much of the work is named there as Thomas Easterbrook. A piece of window tracery from the old chapel of St Leonard was set into the stable gable. He is best known for the carriage drive across Spitchwick Commons, now Dr Blackall's Drive.

His will of 1890 left about £162,000 to charities and a life interest in Spitchwick to Mrs Julia Tindall, whom the Society's account calls his companion. He is buried at Leusdon. After her death in 1901 the estate was sold to Frederick Struben. See Spitchwick Manor.