Francis Claude Blake was a British engineer, known for his pioneering work designing and manufacturing cars, boats and railway locomotives. He was a member of the Institution of Automobile Engineers. Blake was born in Putney in 1867, trained at Nine Elms Locomotive Works (1886-1889), and was draughtsman and clerk of works at Poplar Station of the Commercial Gas Co from 1890 to 1896, after which he set up his own business.