Thomas 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 Elphin, and the former Frances Winthrop. Bligh's uncles were John Bligh, 1st Earl of Darnley and Lt.-Gen. Thomas Bligh, best known for his service during the Seven Years' War. Both of his uncles served in the Irish House of Commons.

Bligh was educated at Armagh and at St John's College, Cambridge. Lord Darnley promoted his candidature for County Meath in the summer of 1801 and he was returned as one of two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the following year after an easy contest. Bligh was recorded as voting with the minority for the 1803 inquiry into the Prince of Wales's finances, and, acting with Lord Darnley, several times against Henry Addington on defense in 1804. On William Pitt's return to power, he was listed 'Prince'. In December 1804 and July 1805, he was listed as in opposition and he voted in the minority against the war with Spain in February 1805, and in the majorities against Melville. In May 1806, the Chief Secretary reported that Bligh wanted an office for himself, or his son, in return for which he would support and be supported by government. In 1807, Bligh voted with them after their dismissal. In 1808, it was reported in Parliament that Bligh "supports generally and votes with opposition with reluctance" although he did not vote with opposition except on Catholic relief in May 1808. Indeed, Bligh voted against government on the Scheldt inquiry in March 1810, voted for Catholic relief in June 1810 and sided with them in the Regency divisions from 1810 to 1811. Bligh voted for the Catholic claims in May 1811 and April 1812 and for Viscount Morpeth's motion critical of the state of Ireland in February 1812. Bligh did not seek re-election in 1812 as his relationship with Lord Darnley had again deteriorated. Bligh "tried to call out Darnley in 1806 and again did so in 1812, when as before, he was tried in King’s bench and bound over to keep the peace. By 1820, he was again harassing Darnley and was bound over for another four years, but, unable to pay the sureties required for his discharge, spent the rest of his life in King's Bench prison." Her sister, Lady Catherine, was married to Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. Her eldest brother John was the fourth Earl of Darnley. Another brother was Gen. Edward Bligh and her youngest brother, Col. Hon. William Bligh, was married to Lady Sophia Stewart (a daughter of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway). After his death, she married William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, 4th Earl of Mornington. Frances "Fanny" Bligh (d. 1834), who married George Vicesimus Wigram, son of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet, in 1830. Sarah Bligh, who died unmarried. She married, secondly, John Fountain Elwin, in 1838. Edward Bligh (1797–1872), a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace who married Sophia Eversfield, daughter of William Eversfield of Denne Park, in 1827. His widow, Lady Theodosia, died nearly ten years later on 21 January 1840.