Architect and architectural historian; published the important early survey of British architecture, The History of Renaissance Architecture in England, 1500-1800 (1897). Blomfield's father was Reverend George John Blomfield (d. 1900), vicar of Dartford, and his mother, Isabella Blomfield. His parents were distant cousins. After attending Haileybury College he entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1875, graduating in 1879. With a talent for art, Blomfield initially considered becoming a sculptor.