North - Appt. Asst. Collector EAP 18-1-1898; arr. Mombasa from England 16-3-1898; Mombasa April 1898; Kismayu Nov. 1898 & 1899; 4-5-1900 to be Asst. Collector Lamu; moved to Kismayu 17-10-1900; Acting Sub-Commissioner Jubaland & Intelligence Officer for Ogaden Punitive Force 17-11-1900; ill at Kismayu 30-12-1900; arr. Mombasa from Kismayu 1-4-1901, dep. Mombasa for Europe, ill, severe sunstroke 4-4-1901; Resigned 16-5-1902

Thurston - CO 533/610 - 1926-27 - Major F.W.H. Blake: pension CO 533/610 - Pension entitlement - appt. Asst. District Officer in EA Protectorate on 12/1/1898 and resigned on 16/5/02 and appointed to English Prisons service. Eventually retired as Governor of Pentonville in May 1926.

EA Diary 1902 - Listed as Assistant District Officer

Quod - "While I was serving in the East Africa Protectorate in the year 1900, I was sent to take charge in Jubaland during the absence of the Provincial Commissioner, Mr A.C.W. Jenner, who had started upon an exploring expedition to the Lorian Swamp.  The capital and seaport of Jubaland is Kismayu, which at that time consisted only of a few stone houses and several hundred mud huts, and I had not been there many days before information came through that Mr Jenner's party had been ambushed by Ogaden Somalis, Jenner himself assassinated, and that, inflamed by this success, several thousand Somalis were advancing towards Kismayu for the express purpose of wiping out the town and its inhabitants. In the circumstances, then, there was only one thing to do. I dispatched dhows down the coast to Lamu, which was in telephonic and telegraphic communication with Zanzibar, with letters that informed the Consul-General of the exact position, and requesting that a ship and the necessary troops should be sent to our assistance. This was all the more necessary as the only force in Jubaland itself consisted of a small detachment of the East African Rifles - now known as the King's African Rifles - who were stationed at a place on the Juba River about 20 miles north of Kismayu, called Yonte, and the half company of Sudanese Infantry which formed the Commissioner's guard at Kismayu itself. In addition to the request for reinforcements sent to the Consul-General, I also sent runners to warn the OC troops at Yonte. After that all I could do was to strengthen the stockade around the town, with the further protection of barbed wire entanglements, and then sit tight to await the arrival of the necessary help, and at the same time send up a devout prayer to heaven that in the meanwhile the Ogadens would not turn up in numbers sufficient to rush the place and overwhelm our small garrison. Except that my anxiety became cumulatively stronger, for 10 days nothing happened. And then, after those days and nights of unremitting vigilance, the look-out man, who was stationed on the roof of the Residency, was heard joyfully shouting, "Manawari Anakuja" - which, being interpreted, means "men-of-war coming." As may well be imagined these 2 vessels, which consisted of HMS Magicienne and a steamship carrying 4 companies of Dudanese, received a most royal welcome as they dropped their anchors. And that was the start of a pretty little show which in those days we called a war, and through which for several months on end, and with varying success, we chased the wily Ogaden in an endeavour to teach him the error of his ways and induce in him a change of heart. But our enemy had 2 very powerful allies in the mosquito and the sun, and I should hesitate to decide as to which of the two caused the greater number of casualties in our ranks. On the whole I'm inclined to think the latter, for being situated on the Equator, and there being no shade of any kind, Jubaland is one of those portions of the Empire upon which the sun shines in all its glory. In addition, the whole area about Kismayu and its vicinity is soft yellow sand that has been in the process of baking since the beginning of time, so that in comparison with Kismayu even the more widely known furnace of Aden would strike one as a delightfully cool and delectable resort. Still, for sheer unpleasantness and virulence the mosquitoes took a bit of beating. From the river itself, as from every one of the wells that supplied us with water, they swarmed in veritable clouds that would not be denied. The barbed wire entanglements were no protection against these powerful allies of the enemy, and it was not long before an appreciable percentage of the men were down with malaria and sunstroke. I personally staved off illness as long as I could, and in doing so lasted fairly well up to April of the following year - 1901. But when I did fall sick it was pretty badly - so much so that there was nothing for it but to be returned home on sick leave. And when I arrived in England my people did everything in their power to prevent my returning to that insalubrious region of British East Africa. ………. East Africa was no place for a married man with young children.

The African Standard - 26-2-1903 - Invited to the wedding of H.R. Phelips & Miss Jacquette Edith Lambe in Mombasa

He retired from the Prison Service in 1924 and was prosecuted for a breach of the Official Secrets Act in 1926 and found guilty. He was fined (he had been writing newspaper articled on the Thompson-Bywaters murder trial).