John Blatchly


Dr. John Marcus Blatchly MBE FSA was a schoolmaster, author and noted historian of the county of Suffolk.

Life

The son of Alfred Ernest Blatchly and Edith Selina Giddings, he studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge and became a chemistry teacher. From 1972 to 1993 he was headmaster of Ipswich School in Suffolk. After retiring, he served as the school's archivist emeritus and published a history of the school.
A keen local historian, he also served as chairman of the Suffolk Records Society and the Ipswich Historic Churches Trust, and president of the Suffolk [Institute of Archaeology & History]. Blatchly's heritage work included rescuing and cataloguing Ipswich's 16th-century library and leading efforts to erect a bronze statue of Cardinal Wolsey in the town. His passionate interest in Wolsey and in Cardinal's College in Ipswich was reflected in his election in 2014 as Honorary Wolsey Professor at University Campus Suffolk.
Photographs by Blatchly are held at the Conway Library of the Courtauld Institute in London.

Honours and recognition

Blatchly was awarded an MBE in 2006 for services to heritage.
In 2021 Suffolk Record Office opened a purpose-built heritage centre in Ipswich and named the reference library the John Blatchly Local Studies Library in his honour.

Selected publications