Queer Places:
Cannibal Club C/O Bertolini’s, 32 St Martin's Ln, Charing Cross, London WC2N 4ER, UK
Nunhead Cemetery, Linden Grove, London SE15 3LP, United Kingdom
Charles Carter Blake (1840 – July 9, 1897) was a prominent Victorian anthropologist, paleontologist, and comparative anatomist. He played a significant role in the early development of British anthropology, particularly through his involvement with the Anthropological Society of London (ASL).
Blake was a pupil and assistant to Sir Richard Owen, a celebrated biologist and paleontologist who held Blake's qualifications in high regard and contributed a preface to his work, Zoology for Students.
Blake was a founding fellow of the ASL in 1863 and served as one of its first honorary secretaries. Over the following years, he held various positions within the society, including curator, librarian, and assistant secretary. His contributions were noted for his skills in debate and his expertise as a craniologist.
He served as a lecturer in comparative anatomy and zoology at the Westminster Hospital School of Medicine (1869–1881) and as a lecturer on zoology at the London Institution (1862–1863).
He was a founding member and honorary foreign secretary of the London Anthropological Society (1873–1876) and joint editor of the journal Anthropologia (1873–1875). His resignation from his honorary membership with the ASL was accepted in 1873.
Charles Carter Blake was a member of the Cannibal Club, a private Victorian dining club. The club was closely associated with the Anthropological Society of London and was established around 1863 by Sir Richard Francis Burton and Dr. James Hunt.
The Cannibal Club served as a venue for "renowned radicals and social misfits" within the anthropological community to gather, dine, and air views that were often outside the mainstream.
Historical records identify Blake as a "prominent Cannibal." He is noted in accounts of the era for discussing scientific topics, such as linguistics and anthropology, with other members like Richard Stephen Charnock.
The club’s name and its official symbol—a mace carved to resemble an African head gnawing on a human thighbone—were characteristic of the club's provocative nature and its focus on topics like cannibalism, which fascinated its founder, Richard Burton.
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