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The Hon. Sir John Duncan Bligh KCB, DL (11 October 1798 – 8 May 1872)[1] was a British diplomat.

Sir John Bligh
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Duke of Brunswick
In office
1847–1856
Preceded byThomas Grenville
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Hanover
In office
1838–1856
Preceded byThe Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded bySir John Fiennes Crampton
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Sweden and Norway
In office
1835–1838
Preceded bySir Edward Cromwell Disbrowe
Succeeded bySir Thomas Cartwright
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Russia
In office
1832–1835
Preceded bySir Stratford Canning
Succeeded byThe Earl of Durham
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of the Netherlands
In office
July 1832 – September 1832
Preceded byThomas Cartwright
Succeeded byHon. George Jerningham
Personal details
Born
John Duncan Bligh

(1798-10-11)11 October 1798
London, England
Died8 May 1872(1872-05-08) (aged 73)
Sandgate, Kent
Spouses
Elizabeth Mary Gisborne
(m. 1835; died 1837)
Anne Julia Brownlow
(m. 1865; died 1872)
RelationsWilliam Brownlow (grandfather)
Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley (brother)
ChildrenElizabeth Mary Pelham, Countess of Chichester
Parent(s)John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley
Elizabeth Brownlow
EducationEton College
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
All Souls College, Oxford

Early life

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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

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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 attaché 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 (née 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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co. p. 122.
  3. ^ a b c Walford, Edward (1860). The County Families of the United Kingdom. London: Robert Hardwicke. pp. 59.
  4. ^ a b s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Bligh, Sir John Duncan
  5. ^ "John Bligh". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  6. ^ "No. 18598". The London Gazette. 31 July 1829. p. 1438.
  7. ^ "No. 18746". The London Gazette. 16 November 1830. p. 2398.
  8. ^ Bindoff, p. 182
  9. ^ "No. 18974". The London Gazette. 7 September 1832. p. 2032.
  10. ^ Bindoff, p. 116
  11. ^ "No. 19320". The London Gazette. 30 October 1835. p. 1997.
  12. ^ "No. 19608". The London Gazette. 17 April 1838. p. 912.
  13. ^ Bindoff, pp. 33, 82
  14. ^ "No. 21927". The London Gazette. 30 September 1856. p. 3223.
  15. ^ "No. 18785". The London Gazette. 18 March 1831. p. 518.
  16. ^ "No. 22056". The London Gazette. 30 October 1857. p. 3599.
  17. ^ "Marriages". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 21 May 1836. p. 3. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
  18. ^ Sylvanus, Urban (1866). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part I. London: Bradbury, Evans and Co. p. 118.

References

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  • Bindoff, Stanley Thomas (1934). Elizabeth Frances Malcolm-Smith and Sir Charles Kingsley Webster (ed.). British diplomatic representatives, 1789–1852. Edinburgh: Royal Historical Society.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to the King of the Netherlands

ad interim
Jul – Sep 1832
Succeeded by
Preceded by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
to the Emperor of Russia

ad interim
1832–1835
Succeeded by
Preceded by Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to the King of Sweden and Norway

1835–1838
Succeeded by
Vacant
Title last held by
The Earl of Clarendon
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to the King of Hanover

1838–1856
Succeeded by
Vacant
Title last held by
Thomas Grenville
Minister Plenipotentiary
to the Duke of Brunswick

1847–1856
Succeeded by
?
New office Minister Plenipotentiary
to the Grand Duke of Oldenburg

1847–1856
Succeeded by
?