British diplomat
The Hon.
Sir John Duncan Bligh
KCB
,
DL
(11 October 1798 ? 8 May 1872)
[1]
was a British diplomat.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born in London, he was the second son of
John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley
and his wife, Elizabeth Brownlow, the third daughter of
Anglo-Irish
politician
William Brownlow
(himself a grandson of
James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn
).
[2]
Through his mother, he was a first cousin of
Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan
. His older brother was
Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley
and his paternal grandfather was
John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley
.
[3]
Bligh was educated at
Eton College
[3]
and then matriculated at
Christ Church, Oxford
on 6 May 1818. He received a
BA
in 1821.
[4]
He was later elected a fellow of
All Souls College, Oxford
,
[3]
where he received a
BCL
in 1828 and a
DCL
in 1836.
[4]
Cricket
[
edit
]
In 1822, Bligh played for the
Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) in a
first-class match
, batting twice and scoring 2 each time. Numerous members of his family were involved in cricket.
[5]
Career
[
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]
Bligh entered the diplomatic service and was sent as attache to the embassy in
Vienna
in 1820.
[2]
Three years later he was transferred to Paris and in 1826 a special mission led him to Russia, where he attended the coronation of
Emperor Nicholas I
.
[2]
Afterwards he returned to France and became secretary of legation in
Florence
in 1829.
[6]
In the following year Bligh was attached to
The Hague
as secretary of embassy.
[7]
He served as envoy ad interim from July 1832
[8]
and came to
Saint Petersburg
in September,
[9]
acting as ambassador.
[10]
Bligh was promoted to
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Sweden and Norway
in 1835
[11]
and when King
William IV
of the United Kingdom died and thereby
Hanover
's personal union with Great Britain ended, he was admitted as new
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Hanover
in 1838.
[12]
After nine years, he took over also the British diplomatic representation in the
Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
and the
Duchy of Brunswick
.
[13]
Bligh retired in 1856 and on this occasion was awarded a Knight Commander of the
Order of the Bath
.
[14]
In 1831, Bligh was appointed a captain in the
Royal East Kent Yeomanry
[15]
and in 1857, he was nominated a
Deputy Lieutenant
of the county of
Kent
.
[16]
Personal life
[
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]
On 19 December 1835, he married Elizabeth Mary Gisborne, the only daughter of
Thomas Gisborne
and Elizabeth Fyche (
nee
Palmer) Gisborne, at the parish church of
Allestree
.
[17]
Their only child was a daughter, named after her mother:
Elizabeth died two years later and Bligh remained a widower until 1865, when he remarried his cousin Anne Julia Brownlow, fourth daughter of Francis Brownlow at
Ardbraccan Rectory
on 28 November.
[18]
Bligh died at
Sandgate, Kent
in 1872 and was survived by his second wife for ten years.
[1]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville Henry Massue (1994).
The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal
. Genealogical Publishing Co. p. 387.
ISBN
0-8063-1436-2
.
- ^
a
b
c
Dod, Robert P. (1860).
The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland
. London: Whitaker and Co. p. 122.
- ^
a
b
c
Walford, Edward (1860).
The County Families of the United Kingdom
. London: Robert Hardwicke. pp.
59
.
- ^
a
b
s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Bligh, Sir John Duncan
- ^
"John Bligh"
. CricketArchive
. Retrieved
24 March
2013
.
- ^
"No. 18598"
.
The London Gazette
. 31 July 1829. p. 1438.
- ^
"No. 18746"
.
The London Gazette
. 16 November 1830. p. 2398.
- ^
Bindoff, p. 182
- ^
"No. 18974"
.
The London Gazette
. 7 September 1832. p. 2032.
- ^
Bindoff, p. 116
- ^
"No. 19320"
.
The London Gazette
. 30 October 1835. p. 1997.
- ^
"No. 19608"
.
The London Gazette
. 17 April 1838. p. 912.
- ^
Bindoff, pp. 33, 82
- ^
"No. 21927"
.
The London Gazette
. 30 September 1856. p. 3223.
- ^
"No. 18785"
.
The London Gazette
. 18 March 1831. p. 518.
- ^
"No. 22056"
.
The London Gazette
. 30 October 1857. p. 3599.
- ^
"Marriages"
.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
. 21 May 1836. p. 3
. Retrieved
20 December
2009
.
- ^
Sylvanus, Urban (1866).
The Gentleman's Magazine
. Vol. part I. London: Bradbury, Evans and Co. p. 118.
References
[
edit
]
- Bindoff, Stanley Thomas (1934). Elizabeth Frances Malcolm-Smith and Sir Charles Kingsley Webster (ed.).
British diplomatic representatives, 1789?1852
. Edinburgh: Royal Historical Society.