Hon. Sir John Duncan Bligh KCB, DL (11 October 1798 – 8 May 1872) was a British diplomat.

Background

Born in London, he was the second son of

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. He was the son of John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley, and succeeded his father ...

and his wife, Elizabeth, the third daughter of William Brownlow. His mother was the aunt of

Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan PC (17 April 1795 – 30 April 1847), was an Anglo-Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1818 to 1832 and was raised to the peerage in 1839. Life Brownlow was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Charl ...

and his older brother was

Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley, FRS (25 February 1795 – 12 February 1835), styled Lord Clifton until 1831, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a British peer and politician. Background Darnley was the second but eldest surviving son o ...

. Bligh was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and then matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 6 May 1818. He received a BA in 1821. s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Bligh, Sir John Duncan He was later elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, where he received a BCL in 1828 and a DCL in 1836.

Career

Bligh entered the diplomatic service and was sent as attaché to the embassy in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1820. 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 , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date ...

. Afterwards he returned to France and became secretary of legation in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

in 1829. In the following year Bligh was attached to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

as secretary of embassy. He served as envoy ad interim from July 1832 and came to St Petersburg in September, acting as ambassador. Bligh was promoted to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Sweden and Norway in 1835 and when

King William IV of the United Kingdom William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

died and thereby

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

's personal union with Great Britain ended, he was admitted as new Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Hanover in 1838. After nine years, he took over also the British diplomatic representation in the

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (, also known as Holstein-Oldenburg) was a grand duchy within the German Confederation, North German Confederation and German Empire that consisted of three widely separated territories: Oldenburg, Eutin and Bi ...

and the

Duchy of Brunswick The Duchy of Brunswick (german: Herzogtum Braunschweig) was a historical German state. Its capital was the city of Brunswick (). It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by the Congress of Vienna ...

. Bligh retired in 1856 and on this occasion was awarded a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

. In 1831, Bligh was appointed a captain in the

Royal East Kent Yeomanry The Royal East Kent Yeomanry was a British Army regiment formed in 1794. It saw action in the Second Boer War and the First World War. History Formation and early history The regiment was formed in 1794, originally as a series of independent tro ...

and in 1857, he was nominated a Deputy Lieutenant of the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Family

On 19 December 1835, he married Elizabeth Mary, the only daughter of

Thomas Gisborne Thomas Gisborne (31 October 1758 – 24 March 1846) was an English Anglican priest and poet. He was a member of the Clapham Sect, who fought for the abolition of the slave trade in England. Life Gisborne was born at Bridge Gate, Derby, the ...

at the parish church of Allestree. Their only child, a daughter was named after her mother and became later wife of Walter Pelham, 4th Earl of Chichester. Elizabeth died two years later and Bligh remained a widower until 1865, when he remarried his cousin Anne Julia, fourth daughter of Francis Brownlow at Ardbraccan Rectory on 28 November. Bligh died at

Sandgate, Kent Sandgate is a village in the Folkestone and Hythe Urban Area in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. It had a population of 4,225 at the 2001 census.

Cricket

In 1822, Bligh played for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) in a

first-class match 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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

, batting twice and scoring 2 each time. Numerous members of his family were involved in cricket.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bligh, John 1798 births 1872 deaths

John Duncan John Duncan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Duncan (painter) (1866–1945), Scottish painter * John Duncan (artist) (born 1953), American artist and musician * Big John Duncan (born 1958), Scottish punk musician * John Duncan (harpist) ...

Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Deputy Lieutenants of Kent Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Eton College Younger sons of earls Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Sweden Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Russia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands English cricketers English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Royal East Kent Yeomanry officers Marylebone Cricket Club Second 9 with 3 Others cricketers