Researching William Blake

Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic". A committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England (indeed, to almost all forms of organised religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions. Though later he rejected many of these political beliefs, he maintained an amiable relationship with the political activist Thomas Paine; he was also influenced by thinkers such as Emanuel Swedenborg. Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th-century scholar William Michael Rossetti characterised him as a "glorious luminary", and "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors".

He was born at his grandfather's home, Humewood Castle, Kiltegan, County Wicklow, Ireland, the son of the Rev. Dominick Edward Blake, and Ann, daughter of William Hume (1747–1798) M.P., of Humewood Castle. His ancestors were counted among the Tribes of Galway. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1832 he emigrated to Canada and settled on a farm in Middlesex County. In a few years he removed to Toronto, studied law, and was called to the bar in 1838. He soon distinguished himself in the profession, but was strongly interested in the political issues which agitated the province. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature for East York (now Ontario County) and in the same year was appointed Solicitor-General for Upper Canada in the Lafontaine-Baldwin ministry. In 1849 he prepared the act reforming the practice and organization of the Court of Chancery in Upper Canada and resigned from the ministry in order to become in 1849 the first chancellor of the court. In March, 1862, he resigned on account of failing health, and eight years later he died in Toronto. He was named a QC in 1848.

From the 1850s on he published over 200 articles, several books, and numerous newspaper and mining magazine columns or short pieces on mining and geology. He served throughout his long career as a mining consultant for mining corporations in every western state and several foreign countries, including Japan. He also served as special ambassador for the nascent science of geology while serving as the United States' principal geologic exhibit commissioner for what now would be called World Fairs, from Paris in 1867, through Vienna and the centennial at Philadelphia, back to Paris in 1878. He ended his long and distinguished career as head of the school of mines at the University of Arizona, 1895–1905, remaining in an active emeritus status until his death.