Background
Blackburn was born in Southwark, the son of a tradesman and his wife, who may have been Spanish.
Blackburn was born in Southwark, the son of a tradesman and his wife, who may have been Spanish.
He was apprenticed to a surveyor, but "derived very little advantage" from his master.
Following the principles of John Howard, his designs aimed to provide inmates with dry and airy cells. In 1776 he was named surveyor to the Watermen"s Guild, and he may have designed their Hall near Street Mary-at-Hill, Eastcheap. He was also surveyor for Street Thomas" Hospital and Guy"s Hospital.
He also designed a private home in Denmark Hill.
The passage of the Penitentiary Acting in 1779 dictated the course of his career. While those designs were never realized, his entry led him to friendship with Howard and to extensive work as an architect of prisons.
In England, his jails include the old City Gaol in Oxford (demolished 1870), the New Borough Gaol in Liverpool, county gaols in Gloucester and Northleach, the County Gaol in Ipswich, and Shropshire Prison in Shrewsbury. He also altered the Newgate Gaol in Dublin and designed the Limerick and Monmouth County Gaol.
Blackburn is also credited with the design of Lewin"s Mead Unitarian meeting house, a Unitarian chapel in Bristol.
He died unexpectedly at Preston, Lancashire in November 1790, while travelling to Glasgow to consult on plans for a prison there. He is buried at Bunhill Fields.