David Blomfield

{{Infobox writer

| name = David Blomfield {{post-nominals|Order of the British Empire|MBE}}

| image = David_Blomfield.jpg

|image_size =300px

| caption = David Blomfield in 2015, at the Richmond May Fair

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 11 July 1934

| birth_place = Camberley, Surrey, England

| death_date = 12 July 2016 (aged 82)

| death_place = Kew, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England

| education = Wellington College

| alma_mater= University of Oxford (MA in Classics)
Kingston University (PhD in History)

|occupation = book editor, writer, local councillor, community representative and local historian

| resting_place = Richmond Cemetery

| nationality = British

| spouse = Caroline

|children = 3

| awards = Member of the Order of the British Empire 2000

}}

David Guy Blomfield {{post-nominals|Order of the British Empire|MBE}} (11 July 1934 – 12 July 2016) was leader of the Liberal Party group on Richmond upon Thames Council, a writer, a book editor and a local historian.

Early life and education

David Blomfield was born in Camberley, Surrey. His parents were Valentine Blomfield, a British Army officer, and his wife, Gladys (née Lang), who had been a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at Richmond's Star and Garter Home in the First World War.{{Cite magazine |title=A Century of Caring: Nurses at the Heart of what we do |url=https://starandgarter.org/wp-content/uploads/CAW16-Web-Version.pdf |magazine=Connections |publisher=Royal Star and Garter Homes |date=Autumn 2016 |page=7 |access-date=17 July 2017}} His father's family was descended from the Anglican bishops Charles James Blomfield and Alfred Blomfield and the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield.{{Cite book |title=Bustling Intermeddler? The life and Works of Charles James Blomfield |last=Johnson |first=Malcolm |publisher=Gracewing |year=2001|access-date=16 July 2017|isbn=9780852445464|page = x|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLAX1Pb1bhwC&dq=david+blomfield+books&pg=PR10}}

He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and served in the Royal Artillery and the Oxfordshire Yeomanry.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/22/david-blomfield-obituary |title=David Blomfield obituary |author= Grossman, Wendy |author-link= Wendy M. Grossman |work=The Guardian|date=22 August 2016 |access-date=16 July 2017}} He studied classics at Hertford College, Oxford University and graduated in 1955.{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2005%20Hertford%20College%20News%2C%20Issue%2012.pdf |title=The Man in the Iron Mask |magazine= Hertford College News|last=MacDonald |first=Roger |date= Spring–Summer 2005|issue=12|access-date=16 July 2017}}

Career

Blomfield worked in the condensed books department of Reader's Digest from 1959 to 1987 and subsequently became a freelance book editor.

He was elected to represent Kew ward on Richmond upon Thames Council from 1971 to 1978 and then from 1979 to 1986. As leader of the Liberal group he was Leader of the Opposition on Richmond upon Thames Council in 1978.{{Cite magazine |author=Tonge, Jenny |author-link=Jenny Tonge |date=Autumn 2016|access-date= 16 February 2025 |title=Tribute to David Blomfield MBE |url=https://www.kewsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kew-Newsletter-Autumn-2016.pdf|magazine= The Kew Society Newsletter}}

Blomfield, who researched, wrote and published books on the history of Kew, chaired the Richmond Local History Society from 2003 to 2013, edited its annual journal Richmond History and succeeded John Cloake in 2015 as the Society's President.{{Cite web |url=https://www.richmondhistory.org.uk/wordpress/what-we-do/our-history/#|title=David Blomfield 1934–2016 |last=Smith |first=Robert |publisher= Richmond Local History Society|date=July 2016|access-date= 12 September 2024}} He was also a patron of the Kew Society and a past chairman of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond.

Honours and awards

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.

Personal life

File:Richmond Cemetery, David Guy Blomfield.jpg]]

He lived in Kew, London with his wife Caroline, with whom he had three children (two sons and a daughter). He died on 12 July 2016, a day after celebrating his 82nd birthday.{{Cite news |url=http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/14637650.Remembering_historian_and_former_history_society_president_David_Blomfield__who_died_last_week/?ref=mr&lp=7 |title=Remembering historian and former history society president David Blomfield, who died last week |last=Odling |first=George |work= Richmond and Twickenham Times|date=24 July 2016|accessdate= 16 July 2017}}

Publications

=Books=

Blomfield, David (ed.) (1992). Lahore to Lucknow: The Indian Mutiny Journal of Arthur Moffat Lang. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0850522037}}
Blomfield, David (1994), Kew Past. Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. {{ISBN|0-85033-923-5}}
{{Cite book |publisher = Leyborne Publications |location = London |title = The Story of Kew (5th, enlarged, edition)|author = Blomfield, David |date = 2011|isbn= 978-0-9520515-3-4}}
{{Cite book |publisher = R J L Smith & Associates |location = London |title = St Anne's Kew 1714–2014|author = Blomfield, David |date = 2014|isbn= 978-0-9573492-8-5}}
{{Cite book |publisher = Leyborne Publications |location = London |title = The Story of Leyborne Park|author1= Blomfield, David |author2=Blomfield, Caroline |date = 2015|isbn=978-1-51925427-6}}
{{Cite book |publisher = Oxfordshire Yeomanry Trust |location = Bicester |title = Oxfordshire Yeomanry Gunners 1922–1967 |author = Blomfield, David |date = 2015|isbn=978-1-32640826-8}}
{{Cite book |publisher = Richmond Local History Society |location = London |title = Kew at War 1939–1945 (3rd, enlarged, edition)|author1= Blomfield, David |author2=May, Christopher |date = 2016|isbn= 978-0-9550717-4-4}}

=Articles=

{{cite journal | title= The Watermen of Kew| journal=Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society | author=Blomfield, David| year=2000|issn= 0263-0958|volume=21|pages = 19–28}}
{{cite journal | title=The Modest Champion Oarsman from Kew | journal=Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society | author=Blomfield, David| year=2002|issn= 0263-0958|volume=23|pages =27–32 }}
{{cite journal | title=The Chittys – a Boatman's Family | journal=Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society | author=Blomfield, David| year=2005|issn= 0263-0958|volume=26|pages =51–61}}
{{cite journal | title=Kew Riverside 1820–1920 | journal=Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society| author=Blomfield, David| year=2008|issn= 0263-0958|volume=29|pages =27–32}}
{{cite journal | title=Queen Anne's Little Church | journal=Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society | author=Blomfield, David| year=2014|issn= 0263-0958|volume=35|pages =18–24}}
{{cite journal | title=Christopher May (1944–2014): The Unorthodox Historian | journal=Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society | author=Blomfield, David| year=2015|issn= 0263-0958|volume=36|pages =91–92}}

=PhD thesis=

{{cite thesis|title=Tradesmen of the Thames: success and failure among the watermen and lighter men families of the upper tidal Thames 1750–1901|author=Blomfield, David| year=2006|degree= PhD|publisher= London: Kingston University|url=https://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/id/eprint/20241/}}