Timothy Bligh

Sir Timothy James Bligh, KBE, DSO, DSC* (2 September 1918 – 12 March 1969) was a British Royal Navy officer, civil servant and business executive, who served as Principal Private Secretary to two successive prime ministers; Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home.

Early life Bligh was born on 2 September 1918, the only surviving son of Sir Edward Clare Bligh (1887–1976), who was Chief Officer of Welfare Department, London County Council, 1932–1951. Bligh was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1940. Later, when the affair was unravelling, Bligh met Ward, who by then, at the Home Office's instigation, was under police investigation regarding possible vice charges. Ward asked Bligh if there was anything that could be done to halt the investigation, which was proving ruinous to his practice. Bligh took no action. In June 1963 when the scandal reached its climax, Macmillan being absent in Scotland it was to Bligh that Profumo first confessed his guilt, and it was Bligh who transmitted the contents of Profumo's resignation letter to the prime minister.

Private life Bligh married Ruth Pamela Robertson in 1945; there were two sons and one daughter from the marriage. In the 1963 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Bligh died at his home in Kent on 12 March 1969, after a long illness.