John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley

John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley (30 June 1767 – 17 March 1831), styled Lord Clifton until 1781, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a British peer and cricketer.

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Darnley
Portrait of Lord Darnley, attributed to Thomas Phillips
Personal information
Full name
John Bligh
Born30 June 1767
Kingdom of Ireland
Died17 March 1831(1831-03-17) (aged 63)
Cobham Hall, Kent, England
RelationsSee: Bligh family
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1789–1793MCC
1790–1796Kent
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 24
Runs scored 163
Batting average 3.79
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 21
Balls bowled ?[a]
Wickets 18
Bowling average ?[a]
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 3/?[a]
Catches/stumpings 2/–
Source: CricInfo, 2 January 2022

Early life

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He was the son of John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley, and succeeded his father as earl on the latter's death in 1781. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 16 November 1784. On 3 July 1793, he was made a DCL.[1]

Career

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He resided at Cobham Hall, near Gravesend in Kent, and was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Chatham and Dartford Regiment of Local Militia in 1809.[2]

John Bligh was a noted amateur cricketer who made 27 known appearances in first-class cricket matches between 1789 and 1796. He and his brother, the Honourable (later General) Edward Bligh, were staunch supporters of Kent cricket.[3] The Bligh brothers, who originated from Athboy, County Meath, have been called "the first Irish first-class cricketers".[4]

Personal life

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On 26 August 1791, he married Elizabeth Brownlow (d. 22 December 1831), daughter of William Brownlow and his second wife Catherine Hall, by whom he had seven children:[5]

Lord Darnley died at Cobham Hall on 17 March 1831 and was succeeded in the earldom by his son Edward.[5]

Legacy

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Darnley Bay in the Northwest Territories, Canada was named for him by John Richardson.[6]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c At the time that Darnley played the number of balls bowled and runs scored were not reliably recorded for bowlers. In addition, only wickets which were bowled out were recorded in the bowler's statistics. This makes it impossible to calculate a bowling average.

References

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  1. ^ s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Bligh, John, Earl of Darnley
  2. ^ London Gazette 13 May 1809, p. 680.
  3. ^ Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862
  4. ^ "The first Irish first-class cricketers", CricketEurope Ireland, 30 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Burke, Sir Bernard; Burke, Ashworth P. (1914). Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London: Harrison & Sons. p. 571.
  6. ^ Gazetteer of the Northwest Territories Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine

External sources

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Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Darnley
1781–1831
Succeeded by