Thomas Blackall was the son of John Blackall, F.R.C.P, of Exeter and a descendant of Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter, who died in 1716. He attended Exeter Grammar School and Westminster School for his early education. He went up to Caius College, Cambridge, in 1832, won a scholarship in the following year, and graduated as B.A. in 1837. St. George’s Hospital provided his medical training. Having qualified, he started a Mayfair practice and became visiting physician to the Seamen’s Hospital, Greenwich. On inheriting his father’s fortune in 1860 he retired to Devon, where he became known for his benefactions to local charities and as a cultured member of local society.

G H Brown

[Presidential Address to R.C.P., 1900, 20; Biog.Hist.of Caius College, ii, 220]