George Miller Bligh

George Miller Bligh
George Miller Bligh in 1808, painted by Mather Brown
Born	1780
Died	1834 Southampton, Hampshire
Allegiance	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1794 – 1834
Rank	Captain
Commands held	HMS Pylades HMS Glatton HMS Acorn HMS Araxes
Battles/wars	Napoleonic Wars *Battle of Trafalgar
Relations	Richard Rodney Bligh (father)

Captain George Miller Bligh (1780–1834) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. He was present aboard HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and was badly wounded during the action. He was taken below and was present in the cockpit during the death of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Bligh was born in 1780, the only son of Richard Rodney Bligh, who was later to become an Admiral, and his first wife Ann Worsley. The younger Bligh followed his father into the navy, joining his father's ship HMS Alexander as a midshipman in 1794. Shortly after this a French squadron captured Alexander in an action on 6 November 1794. Bligh became a prisoner of war at Brest, spending six months there until he was able to escape and return to England. He went on to serve aboard a number of ships, including HMS Brunswick, HMS Agincourt, HMS Quebec, and HMS Endymion. He was promoted to lieutenant while serving aboard Endymion in 1801. He returned to serving aboard the Brunswick after this, before being transferred aboard Nelson's flagship HMS Victory in 1804.

Bligh was present at Trafalgar as commander of Victory's forecastle, where he was wounded in the head and hit by a musket ball in the breast, becoming one of the high proportion of officers to be killed or wounded in the battle.Victory's signal Lieutenant John Pasco was also wounded in the battle, while Lieutenant William Ram was killed. Bligh was carried below to be seen by the surgeon William Beatty. He was in the cockpit during the last hours of the mortally wounded Nelson's life, and was depicted in Arthur William Devis's painting The Death of Nelson, 21 October 1805. Bligh is depicted apparently dazed from a head wound, and with his left hand over the wound in his side. Bligh survived the battle and recovered in time to be present at Nelson's funeral. He was in a mourning coach on the morning of 8 January, along with Captain Henry William Bayntun, who had commanded HMS Leviathan at Trafalgar, and Captain Thomas Hardy, of the Victory, as well as fellow Victory lieutenant Andrew King. Bligh was promoted to commander on 25 January 1806, in the rewards bestowed to those who had fought at Trafalgar. He was appointed to command the sloop HMS Pylades and despatched to escort a convoy from Falmouth to the Mediterranean.