Irish politician and cricketer
Lieutenant-general
Edward Bligh
(19 September 1769 ? 2 November 1840), styled
The Honourable
from birth, was a British Army officer, a member of the
Irish House of Commons
, a noted amateur
cricketer
and a prominent early member of
Marylebone Cricket Club
. He was a member of the
Darnley noble family
.
Early life
[
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]
Bligh was born in 1769 in
County Meath
in the
Kingdom of Ireland
,
[c]
the second son of
John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley
and his wife Lady Mary (
nee
Stoyte).
[2]
[3]
His mother was a "wealthy heiress" and the only child of a leading Irish
barrister
, John Stoyte from
Streete
,
County Westmeath
. John Bligh, who was 47 years old, married the 18 year old Stoyte in 1767 in
Dublin
. The Earls of Darnley owned Clifton Lodge in County Meath and much of the area around
Athboy
in the county, as well as
Cobham Hall
in
Kent
, England, and Edward Bligh grew up at both properties.
[4]
He was educated at
Eton College
.
[3]
Army career
[
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]
After leaving Eton, Bligh entered the
British Army
, initially being commissioned into the
Coldstream Guards
as an
ensign
in 1787.
[3]
He was promoted to
major
, serving in the
3rd Foot Guards
, in 1792 and, after serving in the 1793
Flanders campaign
during the early years of the
French Revolutionary Wars
held the rank of
lieutenant-colonel
in the
85th Regiment of Foot
by 1794 and
brevet
colonel
by 1798, when he served as
aide-de-camp
to
George III
whilst serving in the
107th Regiment of Foot
. He commanded the 2nd battalion of the
5th Regiment of Foot
between 1799 and 1803 and late commanded the
33rd Regiment of Foot
. In 1805, Bligh was promoted to
major-general
at the age of 32. Bligh was promoted to
lieutenant-general
in 1811.
[3]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Cricket
[
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]
Primarily a batsman, Bligh played in 76
first-class cricket
matches in a career which lasted from 1789 to 1813.
[8]
He was a prominent member of the
MCC
and played 27 of his first-class matches for the club, as well as a number of matches for sides the club was linked to. He appeared 14 times for England sides
[d]
and eight times for
Kent sides
between 1790 and 1806 as well as for the
Gentlemen of Kent
. He organised his own side, E Bligh's XI, and played for one organised by his brother
John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley
.
[3]
[10]
The brothers opened the batting for Kent against
a Hampshire side
in 1790 and both played regularly in first-class matches.
[11]
[12]
Arthur Haygarth
describes Edward Bligh as "one of the best gentlemen bats of his day",
[13]
and he scored a total of 1,311 runs in first-class matches.
[8]
In lower-level cricket he scored two centuries, both for MCC sides, making 132 against the
Bullingdon Club
at Oxford in 1796 and 105 against
a Middlesex side
at
Lord's Old Ground
in 1797.
[e]
[11]
In 1806 he played for the
Gnetlemen against the Players
in the first two matches between the sides.
[11]
Family and later life
[
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]
Bligh represented
Athboy
in the
Irish House of Commons
in 1800. The constituency was disfranchised at the end of the year as a result of the
Acts of Union 1800
at which the Irish House of Commons was combined with that of Great Britain to form the
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
. His great-grandfather
Thomas Bligh
, grandfather
John Bligh, 1st Earl of Darnley
and father all held the seat, the family owning the land around the town. His great-uncle, also
Thomas Bligh
, held the seat between 1761 and 1775 and his second cousin
Thomas Cherburgh Bligh
held it between 1783 and 1800, serving alongside Bligh in the final parliament.
[f]
[3]
[15]
He served alongside his nephew
Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley
as one of the
Governors of Meath
in 1831.
[16]
The younger brother of
John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley
(1767?1831), who also played cricket for Kent, Bligh did not marry.
[3]
His nephew
John Duncan Bligh
played one first-class cricket match for an MCC side in 1822,
[17]
and his great-nephews
Edward Vesey Bligh
,
John Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley
and
Henry Bligh
all played for the
Gentlemen of Kent
, with Edward and Henry both also playing for
Kent County Cricket Club
. More distant relations to have played for Kent sides were
Lodovick Bligh
and
Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley
who captained the
English cricket team in Australia in 1882?83
and was presented with the original
Ashes urn
.
[11]
[18]
[19]
Another member of the family,
Algernon Bligh
, played first-class cricket for
Somerset County Cricket Club
.
[20]
Bligh died at
Thames Ditton
in
Surrey
in 1840. He was 71.
[8]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
In the period Bligh played, the number of balls delivered by a bowler and the runs conceded from them were generally not recorded. As a result, it is impossible to know how many balls he delivered, his best bowling figures or his bowling average.
- ^
In the period Bligh played, wickets taken by bowlers were normally only recorded if they were bowled. Other means of dismissal were not credited to any bowler.
[1]
As a result the number of wickets he took is uncertain, with the total of two being a minimum. This also makes the calculation of an accurate bowling average impossible.
- ^
The Kingdom of Ireland was a British controlled client state which existed between 1542 and the
Act of Union, 1800
which established the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
from 1801.
- ^
During the time Bligh played, England sides were not representative of the country. Instead, they were sides composed of players from a range of locations brought together to play against another side.
[9]
- ^
Bligh played at a time when high scoring innings were rare, and his two centuries are a notable achievement for an amateur.
[3]
- ^
Thomas Cherburgh Bligh went on to represent
Meath
in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
between 1802 and 1815.
[14]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Carlaw, p. 31. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
- ^
Burke B
, Burke AP (1914)
Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire
, p. 571. London: Harrison & Sons.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Carlaw D (2020)
Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806?1914
(revised edition), pp. 66?67. (
Available online
at the
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)
- ^
Hume R (2019)
A strange brew of a man: The MP for Meath who believed he was a teapot
,
Irish Examiner
, 17 October 2019. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
- ^
Philippart J (1820)
The Royal Military Calendar, Or Army Service and Commission Book
, p. 199. London:
AJ Valpy
. (
Available online
. Retrieved 2022-06-25.)
- ^
Hart HG (1840)
The New Annual Army List
, p. 7. London: John Murray. (
Available online
. Retrieved 2022-06-25.)
- ^
Brown S (2009)
British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793?1815: 5th Regiment of Foot
, The Napoleon Series, The Waterloo Society. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
- ^
a
b
c
Edward Bligh
,
CricInfo
. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
- ^
Birley D
(1999)
A Social History of English Cricket
, p. 364. London: Aurum Press.
ISBN
978 1 78131 1769
- ^
Edward Bligh
, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
(subscription required)
- ^
a
b
c
d
Wynne-Thomas P
, Griffiths P (2002)
Famous Cricketers Series: No. 67 Ivo Bligh
, p. 3. Nottingham:
The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
- ^
Moore D (1988)
The History of Kent County Cricket Club
, p. 3. London: Christopher Helm.
ISBN
0-7470-2209-7
- ^
Haygarth A
(1862)
Scores & Biographies
, vol. 1 (1744?1826), p. 102. Lillywhite.
- ^
Smith HS (1842)
The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections
, p. 236. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Company. (
Available online
at
Google Books
. Retrieved 2022-06-27.)
- ^
Leigh Rayment's historical List of Members of the Irish House of Commons
[usurped]
. Archived 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2022-06-27. (Cites: Johnston-Liik EM (2002)
The History of the Irish Parliament 1692?1800
(6 volumes). Ulster Historical Foundation.
- ^
Royal kalendar, and court and city register 1831
, p. 389. London: Suttaby & Co. (
Available online
. Retrieved 2022-06-27.)
- ^
John Duncan Bligh
, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
(subscription required)
- ^
Wynne-Thomas & Griffiths, pp. 5?6.
- ^
Carlaw, pp. 67?71.
- ^
Algernon Bligh
, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
(subscription required)
External links
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]