Lodovick Edward Bligh JP (24 November 1854 – 16 May 1924) was an English

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. He played ten

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 ...

matches for

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 ...

between 1878 and 1884.

Early life

Bligh was born on 24 November 1854 into the Darnley family, who were closely associated with Kent cricket. He was a son of the English cricketer, diplomat and clergyman, Hon. Rev.

Edward Vesey Bligh The Reverend Honourable Edward Vesey Bligh JP DL (28 February 1829 – 22 April 1908) was an English cricketer, diplomat and clergyman. A descendant of the Darnley Earldom in Kent, he, along with many other members of his family, acted as a pa ...

(1829–1908) and Lady Isabel Mary Frances Nevill (1831–1915), daughter of William Nevill, 4th Earl of Abergavenny. His paternal grandparents were Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley and Emma Jane, Countess of Darnley. He attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

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 ...

, although he did not make the cricket XI at either.Bligh, Mr Ludovick Edward
Obituaries in 1924, ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', 1925. Retrieved 1 April 2017.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 70–71.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 7 August 2022.)

Career

His father had played for Kent and his cousin,

Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley 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 of Cobham, Kent, was a British nobleman, parliamentarian and cricketer. Bligh captained the Engl ...

, also played for the county and captained the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

in their Ashes win in Australia in 1882/3.Earl of Darnley

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 31 March 2017.Ivo Bligh

. Retrieved 31 March 2017. He gained the rank of Major in the 3rd Battalion, The Buffs. He also held the office of Justice of the Peace for Kent.

Personal life

On 1 June 1886, Bligh married Marion Louisa Stewart-Savile (d. 1925), a daughter of Rev. Frederick Alexander Stewart-Savile and Sophia Stewart ( Dykes). Together, they had five children: * Harroweton Lodovick Bligh (1887–1888) * Algernon Stewart Bligh (1888–1952), who also played first-class cricket for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

from 1922 to 1926. * Ronald Edward Bligh (1890–1891) * Jack Frederick Bligh (1893–1917) * Rose Marion Bligh (b. 1896) Bligh died on 16 May 1924. His widow died the following year in 1925.

References

External links

* 1854 births 1924 deaths Lodovick English cricketers Kent cricketers Cricketers from Dover, Kent {{England-cricket-bio-1850s-stub