Thomas, a Scottish writer, born in 1701 at Aberdeen, where his father was a minister. He studied Greek and philosophy in the Marischal College, and took the degree of A.M. in 1718. Being distinguished for uncommon parts and an early proficiency in letters, he was, in December 1723, made professor of Greek in Marischal College, and continued to teach that language with applause till his death. In 1735 he published anonymously at London, An Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, 8vo, a second edition of which appeared in 1736; and not long after he published Proofs of the Inquiry into Homer's Life and Writings, being a translation of the Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and French notes, subjoined to the original work. In 1748 he published Letters concerning Mythology, 8vo, but without his name. The same year he was made principal of Marischal College in Aberdeen; being the only Blackwell, layman who had been appointed to that office since the patronage came to the crown by the forfeiture of the Marischal family in 1716. In 1752 he became LL.D.; and the year following published the first volume of his Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, 4to. The second volume appeared in 1753; and the third, which was posthumous and left incomplete by the author, was prepared for the press by John Mills, Esq., and published in 1764. At the same time a third edition of the two former volumes appeared, which is a proof that his literary talents found many admirers; although it must be acknowledged that the parade with which it is written, and the peculiarity of its language, exposed it, not without reason, to some severity of censure. He died at Edinburgh, March 8, 1758, of a consumptive disorder, which was probably accelerated by his excessive abstinence.

Alexander, son of a dealer in knit-hose at Aberdeen, where he received a liberal education. He studied physic under Boerhaave at Leyden, took the degree of doctor of physic, and acquired a proficiency in the modern languages. He married the daughter of a gentleman in the neighbourhood; and, after an attempt to establish himself as a practitioner in Scotland, he went to London, where he met with no better success. He then became a corrector of the press, and at length set up a printing establishment of his own, which was carried on till 1734, when he became bankrupt. He appears to have subsisted for a considerable time after this event by the ingenuity of his wife, who published "A Curious Herbal," containing 500 cuts of the most useful plants which are now used in the Practice of Physic, engraved on folio Copperplates after Drawings taken from the Life, by Elizabeth Blackwell; to which is added a short Description of the Plants, and their common Uses in Physic, 1739, 2 vols. folio. About the year 1740 Blackwell went to Sweden, and, renewing his intimacy with a nobleman whom he had met at the Hague, resumed the medical profession. Having laid before his Swedish Majesty a scheme for draining the fens and marshes, considerable sums were expended for that purpose under the doctor's direction. Being suspected, however, of being concerned in a plot for changing the succession to the Swedish throne, he was put to the torture; and this not producing the desired confession, he was beheaded, August 9, 1748. Soon afterwards appeared "A Genuine Copy of a Letter from a merchant in Stockholm to his correspondent in London, containing an impartial Account of Doctor Alexander Blackwell, his Plot, Trial, Character, and Behaviour, both under Examination and at the Place of Execution; together with a Copy of a Paper delivered to a Friend upon the Scaffold." Blackwell possessed good natural genius, but was flighty and conceited. His conversation, however, was facetious and agreeable; and he was allowed to have been a well-bred and accomplished gentleman.