Australian Dictionary of Biography entry:
John Ignatius Bleasdale (1822–1884) by J. R. J. Grigsby

This article was published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, 1969, online in 2006.

John Ignatius Bleasdale (1822-1884), Catholic clergyman, was born in Lancashire, England, and received his elementary education in private schools at Preston. In 1835 he began his studies for the priesthood at the English College, Lisbon, completing them at St Mary's College, Oscott, Birmingham, where he was ordained by Cardinal Wiseman in 1845. For five years he served as a military chaplain in Britain before transferring to the newly-formed diocese of Victoria together with priests who responded to the appeal for clergy made by Dr Patrick Geoghegan in 1849-50.

Bleasdale's first appointment was in 1851 to the country mission of Geelong and Colac, where he remained until 1853 when he was transferred to the seminary attached to St Francis Church, Melbourne. When the seminary was transferred to Eastern Hill at St Patrick's College in 1855 Bleasdale was appointed vice-president. While he held this appointment his deep interest in scientific subjects was reflected by several changes in the curriculum. Bleasdale had soon acquired a reputation as the outstanding Catholic clergyman in scientific circles. He was a recognized and popular lecturer in a wide range of subjects and a foundation member of the Melbourne Microscopical Society. He was also a fellow of the Geographical and Linnean Societies and an honorary member of the Medical Society of Victoria. In the public pressure for the establishment of a public museum of natural history in the 1850s Bleasdale was a diligent committee worker and advocated the founding of schools of chemistry and mineralogy in association with the proposed museum.

While vice-president of St Patrick's College, Bleasdale founded the Catholic Young Men's Society in 1859 and was its spiritual director. In 1860 he resigned from his seminary appointment and was transferred to St Francis Church, Melbourne. Throughout the 1860s he continued his work as a writer and committee worker. Several articles were contributed to the Argus and the weeklies on technical education in which he was interested. He became a prominent member of the Royal Society of Victoria, and many of his lectures and papers were published in its Proceedings. Elsewhere he published many papers on colonial wine, hoping 'to see Victorians a healthy, sober, jolly, wine-drinking population'.

Public recognition of his abilities and interests was achieved when he was appointed to the royal commission on planning an intercolonial exhibition in 1865. This was the first of several similar public appointments which included a trusteeship of the Melbourne Public Library, Museum and National Gallery and membership of the Denominational Schools Board, the Central Board of Health and the Commission for Technical Education. In these public fields he was instrumental in obtaining a government grant of £10,000 to finance a hall for the Technological and Industrial Museum and in 1875 a grant of £2000 for the foundation of a school of chemistry. His abilities as a critic on the subjects of mineralogy and new industries were recognized both in Australasian circles and later in North America.

In the 1860s and 1870s Bleasdale's ecclesiastical appointments included the inspector-generalship of schools and orphanages and a term as private secretary to Bishop James Goold. From 1866 he was secretary of the Catholic Education Committee, which he represented at hearings and appeals in connexion with the education bill of 1867 and the Act of 1872. While continuing to serve in this capacity, he was appointed chancellor of the Archdiocese of Melbourne in 1874, and formulated much of its financial policy in the years when its independent education system was expanding. His health failed rapidly in these years and in 1877 he resigned from his Melbourne ecclesiastical appointments and migrated to California. From that time he did not participate actively in public affairs but continued to publish papers on subjects which had interested him. After a long illness he died in San Francisco in June 1884 aged 62.

Select Bibliography

F. Mackle, The Footprints of Our Catholic Pioneers (Melb, 1924)
H. M. Humphreys (ed), Men of the Time in Australia: Victorian Series (Melb, 1878)
Advocate (Melbourne), Aug 1884
Argus (Melbourne), 2 Aug 1884.

Citation details
J. R. J. Grigsby, 'Bleasdale, John Ignatius (1822–1884)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bleasdale-john-ignatius-3015/text4415, published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 24 June 2025.

This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, (Melbourne University Press), 1969.

Reproduced by permission of Australian Dictionary of Biography. Original biography: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bleasdale-john-ignatius-3015

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Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 1, 1979, pp 26-27:

Bleasdale, John, D.D., English
One of the Greatest Benefactors to Science among Australian Priest-Servants
Vying with him in the scientific field are John Milne Curran and Julian Tenison Woods. Essential life details: b. 1822 in Kirkham, Lancashire; ed. in a private school, Preston, in Lisbon (where he obtained his interest in the grape and the juice thereof),and in Oscott; ord. by Cardinal Wiseman at Oscott on 25.8.1844. Spent five years as a military chaplain in England. Arr. Melb. on 31.3.1851. Pastoral work in Geelong and Colac - in latter place coming into conflict with his Irish parishioners. Returning to Melbourne he spent many busy years, assisting Bp. Goold in the education field and going his own way, often in opposition to Goold's restraining hand, in scientific matters. Briefly, his activities and achievements are here listed: Founder of the C.Y.M.S. in 1859; organizer of the Intercolonial Exhibition in 1866; co-founder of the Yorick Club in 1868; member of the Medical Society of Victoria; trustee of the Museum, Public Library, and National Gallery; assistant editor of the Australasian Monthly; chairman of the Central Board of Health; contributor of scientific articles to many journals, such as the Argus and Australasian; member of the Melbourne School of Chemistry. The list is far from complete. Relations with Bp. Goold wound down by 1879. Hence his departure for "pastures new" and San Francisco where the scientific activities were continued. Let's say that his most important achievement was in the wine industry, being foremost among its founders on the Australian scene. The foremost authority on his contributions to science and public welfare is Me Alan Benjamin, a Melbourne legal personality. The MDHC File, built up by the research of Fr. J. Keaney and F.D. Minogue, is bulky. The MDHC File at Torquay is likewise bulky. An ADB biography, Vol. 3, p.183, is enlightening. The man of science and a worthy priest died among Californian vines on 28 June 1884, age 62. His tomb was destroyed in an earthquake of 1904 but his name, unlike his tomb, cannot be consigned to oblivion.
(Footprints, Vol. 1, No. 5.)