The Times/1884/Obituary/Octavian Blewitt

Layout 2Mr. Octavian Blewitt, K.L., F.R.G.S., many years of the Royal Literary Fund, whose death has been briefly recorded in The Times, was born in 1803, in St. Helen's-place, Bishopsgate, where his father was settled as a merchant. Mr. Blewitt spent much of his early life in the medical profession, and was from some time engaged as a tutor in classics to the son of Sir James Clark, the eminent physician. He subsequently travelled much in Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and other countries, and on his return to England was, in 1839, elected to the post of secretary of the Royal Literary Fund. In this capacity Mr. Blewitt spent many years in arranging the papers, literary, financial, and historical, which constituted the records of the association. In 1872, on the occasion of the King of the Belgians presiding over the anniversary of the Literary Fund, His Majesty testified his appreciation of the services of Mr. Blewitt by conferring upon him the Knighthood of the Order of Leopold. Mr. Blewitt was for many years editor of the newspaper portion of the Gardener's Chronicle and he was also the author of several well-known works, including, "The Panorama of Torquay," published in 1828, and afterwards reprinted in an enlarged edition as "A Descriptive and Historical Sketch of the District comprised between the Dart and Teign," also the "Handbook for Central Italy and Rome," and the "Handbook for Southern Italy and Naples," being two of the series of Murray's guide-books. Mr. Blewitt's funeral is fixed for 3 o'clock to-morrow afternoon at Paddington Cemetery.