Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley

Arms of Bligh: Azure, a griffin segreant or armed and langued gules between three crescents argent[1]

Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley, FRS (25 February 1795 – 12 February 1835), styled Lord Clifton until 1831, was a British peer and politician.

Background

Darnley was the second but eldest surviving son of John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley, and Elizabeth Brownlow, 3rd daughter of the Rt Hon. William Brownlow MP.[2][3] He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took degrees of Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1816, proceeding Master of Arts (MA) in 1819.[4]

Political career

Darnley was returned to the House of Commons representing Canterbury in 1818, a seat he held until 1830[5] for the Whig Party.[4] In 1831 he succeeded his father in the earldom and took his seat in the House of Lords. He also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Meath between 1831 and 1835,[3][6] and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1833.[4]

Family

Engraving after Sir Thomas Lawrence of The Hon. Emma Jane Parnell (later Countess of Darnley).

Lord Darnley married the Hon. Emma Jane, daughter of Henry Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton, in 1825. They had three sons and two daughters. He died of lockjaw after an axe injury when felling timber on his estate at Cobham Hall, Kent, in February 1835, aged 39, and was buried at Cobham.[4] He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, John Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley.

His wife, Emma, Dowager Countess of Darnley, died in March 1884.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.322
  2. ↑ http://www.proni.gov.uk/introduction__bath_and_brownlow_estate.pdf
  3. 1 2 3 "Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley". The Peerage. 22 February 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 The Complete Peerage, Volume III. St Catherine's Press. 1916. p. 85.
  5. ↑ leighrayment.com
  6. ↑ leighrayment.com

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Baker
Stephen Rumbold Lushington		 Member of Parliament for Canterbury
1818–1830
With: Stephen Rumbold Lushington		 Succeeded by
Richard Watson
Viscount Fordwich
Honorary titles
New office Lord Lieutenant of Meath
1831–1835 		Succeeded by
The Lord Dunsany
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
John Bligh		 Earl of Darnley
1831–1835 		Succeeded by
John Stuart Bligh
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