Major John Blakiston moved to Mobberley from Lymington in Hampshire after 1841 when his wife Jane's father, Thomas Wright, died and devised his 1700 acre Mobberley estate to his daughter. Major Blakiston, who was born in Dublin in 1785 served with Wellington as a chief engineer in Assaye, Bourbon and the Peninsula War before retiring and writing the first volume of his memoirs. He and those of his family at home are recorded in the 1851 and 1861 census records at Mobberley New Hall which they built in 1845 as they did not consider the Old Hall a suitable residence (it then became a farm house).
The Blakistons had three daughters, none of whom married as well as four sons. Lieutenant Larence Blakiston died at Sebastopol in Crimea in 1855; John Rochfort was a famous teacher and H.M. Chief Inspector of Schools; Matthew became a member of the Royal Geographical Society and Thomas Wright Blakiston became a famous ornithologist and explorer. Matthew inherited the estate when his father died in 1867 and sold it in 1870, the majority going to Ralph Leycester of Toft.
After John Blakiston died, Jane and her three daughters moved to Vale Bank in Knutsford which stood where the Grove Park estate is now.
The Blakistons had three daughters, none of whom married as well as four sons. Lieutenant Larence Blakiston died at Sebastopol in Crimea in 1855; John Rochfort was a famous teacher and H.M. Chief Inspector of Schools; Matthew became a member of the Royal Geographical Society and Thomas Wright Blakiston became a famous ornithologist and explorer. Matthew inherited the estate when his father died in 1867 and sold it in 1870, the majority going to Ralph Leycester of Toft.
After John Blakiston died, Jane and her three daughters moved to Vale Bank in Knutsford which stood where the Grove Park estate is now.
