R. B. D. Blakeney

Brigadier-General Robert Byron Drury Blakeney, generally known as R.B.D. Blakeney (April 18, 1872 – February 13, 1952), was a British Army general and fascist politician. After a career with the Royal Engineers, Blakeney went on to serve as President of the British Fascists.

Blakeney was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 24 July 1891, and promoted to a lieutenant on 24 July 1894.

Although he was to obtain the rank of Brigadier-General, Blakeney had only limited involvement in combat. He served in the Dongola Expedition under Sir Herbert Kitchener in 1896, and was involved in the 1898 Battle of Omdurman, for which he received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He had been one of six subalterns working on the Sudan Military Railway under Percy Girouard. During the Second Boer War (1899–1902) he commanded the 3rd Balloon Section of the Royal Engineers 1899–1900, in one of the later examples of the use of military ballooning, and later served on the staff. He was promoted to captain on 1 July 1902, after the war had ended.

Following his service with the Royal Engineers, Blakeney followed a career in railway administration. By 1902 he was working with the Egyptian State Railways, and in 1906 he was appointed deputy general manager of the company, and was promoted to full manager in 1919, a role he held until 1923.

An early member of the British Fascisti, Blakeney succeeded Leopold Ernest Stratford George Canning, 4th Baron Garvagh as president of the movement in 1924, and at the same time was made editor of their journal The Fascist Week. In his role as President he developed a rigid military style structure for the BF, whilst also ensuring that it altered its name from the Italian "Fascisti" to the more English "Fascists". He insisted that the BF be run in "the spirit of intelligent patriotism" and sought to build links with mainstream right-wing pressure groups such as the Anti-Socialist Union.

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