John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley

He was the son of John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley, and succeeded his father as earl on the latter's death in 1781. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 16 November 1784. On 3 July 1793, he was made a DCL.^[1]

He resided at Cobham Hall, near Gravesend in Kent, and was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Chatham and Dartford Regiment of Local Militia in 1809.^[2]

John Bligh was a noted amateur cricketer who made 27 known appearances in important matches between 1789 and 1796. He and his brother, the Honourable (later General) Edward Bligh, were staunch supporters of Kent cricket.^[3] The Bligh brothers, who originated from Athboy, County Meath, have been called "the first Irish cricketers".^[4]

On 26 August 1791, he married Elizabeth Brownlow (d. 22 December 1831), daughter of William Brownlow and his second wife Catherine Hall, by whom he had seven children:^[5]

• Lady Catherine Bligh (1792–1812)^[5]
• John Bligh, Lord Clifton (1793–1793)^[5]
• Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley (1795–1835)^[5]
• Lady Mary Bligh (1796–1823), who married her half-first cousin, Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan in 1822.^[5]
• Hon. William Bligh (1797–1807)^[5]
• Hon. Sir John Duncan Bligh (1798–1872), a diplomat in Sweden and Hanover.^[5]
• Lady Elizabeth Bligh (d. 1872), who married her first cousin Rev. John Brownlow in 1833.^[5]

Lord Darnley died at Cobham Hall on 17 March 1831 and was succeeded in the earldom by his son Edward.^[5]