Robert Bligh ( 1704 – 1778) was an Irish

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

dean in the 18th century.

Early life

Bligh was the son of Thomas Bligh (1654–1710) and his wife Elizabeth Naper (d. 1737).Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. ''Burke's Irish Family Records''. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976. Bligh's elder brothers were John Bligh, 1st Earl of Darnley and Lt.-Gen. Thomas Bligh, best known for his service during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. Both of his elder brothers and his son served in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

. He was educated at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

Career

He was

Dean of Elphin The Dean of Elphin and Ardagh is based in St John the Baptist Cathedral, Sligo in the Diocese of Elphin and Ardagh within the united bishopric of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh of the Church of Ireland. The dioceses of Elphin and Ardagh were merged i ...

from 1768 until his death in 1778.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant'', new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 72.

Personal life

On 1 July 1742 in

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, he married Catherine (Kitty) Elliott (1714–55). Kitty, a daughter of Major-General Roger Elliott and Charlotte Elliot, was sister to Major-General

Granville Elliott Major-general, Major-General Granville Elliott, 1st Count Elliott (7 October 1713 – 10 October 1759), was a Kingdom of Great Britain, British military officer who served with distinction in several other European armies and subsequently i ...

, and a widow of Charles Boyle (1710-), of Araglin Bridge, County Cork. On 18 March 1759, he married secondly to Frances Winthrop (b. 1735) in London. Together, they were the parents of: * Frances Theodosia Bligh (d. 1802), who married Robert Jocelyn, 2nd Earl of Roden. *

Thomas Cherburgh Bligh Thomas Cherburgh Bligh ( – 17 September 1830) was an Anglo-Irish Whig politician who served in the Irish House of Commons and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Early life He was the eldest son of the Very Rev. Robert Bligh, Dean of Elp ...

(–1830), who married Lady Theodosia Bligh, a daughter of Bligh's nephew, John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley. * Catherine Maria Bligh (d. ), who married Hon. Hugh Howard, son of

Ralph Howard, 1st Viscount Wicklow Ralph Howard, 1st Viscount Wicklow PC (I) (29 August 1727 – 26 June 1789) was an Anglo-Irish politician and nobleman. Early life Ralph Howard was born on 29 August 1727 at Shelton Abbey, County Wicklow, the eldest son of seven children born to ...

, in 1792. * Robert Elphin Bligh, who died without issue. Bligh died about 1778.

References

1704 births 1778 deaths

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

Deans of Down Deans of Elphin 18th-century Irish Anglican priests {{Ireland-Anglican-dean-stub