Born in London, England in 1880 but emmigrated to Winnipeg in 1903, Blake read law before being called to the Manitoba Bar in 1909; two years later he moved to Brandon and set up his own practice. He served in France during the First World War, rising to the rank of major by its end. Blake returned to Brandon after the war but left the province for Ontario in 1925; he was subsequently called to the Ontario Bar in 1929 and the British Columbia Bar in 1949. He was still active as a lawyer when he passed away in White Rock, B.C. at the age of eighty.

Blake learnt chess in 1897 and was already a strong player when he arrived in Winnipeg. He was the only local player who could compete with fellow Winnipegger and Canadian champion Magnus Smith on something resembling even terms, although Smith generally finished ahead of Blake in competitions. After Smith moved to New York in 1907 Blake stepped into his shoes as the premier player in the area; apart from winning the Northwest championship five times in succession, Blake was twice runner-up in the Canadian championship (1909 and 1913) and in 1911 won the Western Chess Association championship (the precursor to the U.S. Open). Moving to Brandon curtailed Blake’s chess activities as did the Great War, although he provided a brilliancy prize for the 1918 Northwest tournament whilst on leave. He did make the journey from Brandon to Winnipeg to play in the Northwest competitions 1923-25 and won two of those championships before moving to Ontario.

Blake played in several more Canadian championships in the 1920s, generally finishing in the middle of the field. His last such event was in Hamilton in 1931, when he was apparently living in Windsor. After moving to this province he played in the BC - WA matches of 1949, 1950, and 1951, despite being around seventy years old at the time. His obituary in the White Rock Sun makes no mention of his military career or chess accomplishments. There are certainly soldiers who would prefer to forget their wartime service, but more likely by the time of Blake's passing there was no one left in the area who knew his early background: his wife had predeceased him by several years, and they left no offspring.