Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley (13 March 1859 – 10 April 1927), styled The Honourable Ivo Bligh until 1900,

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

Cobham, Kent Cobham () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. The village is located south-east of Gravesend, and just south of Watling Street, the Roman road from Dover to London. The parish ...

, was a British nobleman, parliamentarian and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. Bligh captained the England team in the first ever Test cricket series against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

at stake in 1882/83. Later in life, he inherited the earldom of Darnley and sat at

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

as an elected Irish representative peer.

Background and education

Bligh was born in London, the second son of John Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley, by Lady Harriet Mary, daughter of Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester. He was educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, graduating BA in 1882. At

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, he was secretary of the University Pitt Club. and played for Cambridge against Oxford in the

Real Tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

Varsity Match of 1880.

Cricket career

Although the history of Test cricket between England and Australia dates from 1877, it was after an English team led by Monkey Hornby lost to the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in 1882, that '' The Sporting Times'' newspaper wrote a mock obituary to English cricket, noting that the body would be cremated and the ashes sent to Australia. The following winter's tour to Australia was billed as an attempt to reclaim The Ashes. Bligh's team was successful, winning the three-match Ashes series two-one, although a fourth game, not played for The Ashes, and hence a matter of great dispute, was lost. A small terracotta urn was presented to The Hon. Ivo Bligh, as England captain, by a group of Melbourne women after England's victory in the Test series. The urn is reputed to contain the ashes of a bail, symbolising "the ashes of English cricket". While the urn has come to symbolise The Ashes series, the term "The Ashes" predates the existence of the urn. The urn is not used as the trophy for the Ashes series, and, whichever side "holds" the Ashes, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. Since the 1998/99 Ashes series, a Waterford crystal trophy has been presented to the winners. Bligh is commemorated by a poem inscribed on the side of the urn: :''When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;'' :'' Studds,

Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, Read and Tylecote return, return;'' :''The welkin will ring loud,'' :''The great crowd will feel proud,'' :''Seeing Barlow and

Bates Bates may refer to: Places * Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County * Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County * Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Elli ...

with the urn, the urn;'' :''And the rest coming home with the urn.'' Bligh also played for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

career which lasted from 1877 to 1883. He was elected President of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

for 1900/01 and of

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

in 1892 and 1902.

Public offices

Bligh succeeded his elder brother

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

as Earl of Darnley in 1900. As the holder of an

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

he was not automatically entitled to a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

(his brother's English peerage, the barony of Clifton, had passed to Edward's daughter Elizabeth), but was elected as soon as was practicable, in March 1905, to sit in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as an Irish representative peer. The year after his succession to the family titles, Lord Darnley was appointed a deputy lieutenant and justice of the peace for

. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 4th Volunteer Battalion, The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) on 16 July 1902.

Personal life

He married Florence Rose Morphy, daughter of John Stephen Morphy, of Beechworth, Victoria, Australia on 9 February 1884. She had been a music teacher at Rupertswood, where her future husband had stayed during his tour of Australia. They had two sons and a daughter: * Esmé Bligh, 9th Earl of Darnley (1886–1955) *Hon. Noel Gervase Bligh (14 November 1888 – 1984), married Mary Jack Frost and had issue *Lady Dorothy Violet Bligh (8 February 1893 – 16 January 1976) In 1884, he became a Christian through

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Mas ...

's preaching, after C. T. Studd invited him to attend Moody's campaign meeting. He served as the President of the

in 1900. Lord Darnley died at Shorne, Kent in April 1927, aged 68, being succeeded in the family titles by his eldest son, Esmé. His wife, 'Florence, Dowager Countess of Darnley', presented the urn to the

(MCC) after her husband's death. She died in August 1944, having been honoured as one of the first Dames of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

in 1919. Ivo Bligh is buried in the family vault at the collegiate church of St Mary Magdalene,

Art collection

As owner of the art collection at Cobham Hall from 1900, he lent various pieces to London exhibitions, but in May 1925 he sold a number of pieces.Christie's advertisement
in "Front Matter". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 46, no. 265, 1925, pp. i-xlii, on JSTOR

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darnley, Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of 1859 births 1927 deaths Ivo British sportsperson-politicians Bligh Deputy lieutenants of Kent Bligh Bligh Bligh English justices of the peace Bligh Bligh Irish representative peers Bligh Bligh People educated at Eton College People educated at Cheam School People from Cobham, Kent Cricketers from Gravesend, Kent Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Ivo 08 Bligh