[1] He was the second son of wealthy salt merchant Jonathan Blackburne of Orford Hall, Warrington, Lancashire (but now Cheshire) and his first wife Anne Lever.

There, in coal-fired hothouses, he established a large exotic plant collection, amongst which were some of the earliest English specimens of pineapple, coffee, tea and sugarcane.

A detailed catalogue of the whole collection was produced in 1779 by the head gardener, Adam Neal, which has provided the basis of several books.

Anna's natural history tutor, Dr Reinhold Forster, who later sailed as naturalist on Cook's second voyage, named a new genus of fan palm Sabal blackburniana in the family's honour.

A younger son named Ashton emigrated to the United States and collected bird specimens, many of them new to science.