Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley
Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, later 8th Earl of Darnley, caricature by Spy in Vanity Fair, 1904
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
13 March 1859 Westminster, London |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 April 1927 (aged 68) Shorne, Kent |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 38) | 30 December 1882 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 21 February 1883 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1877–1883 | Kent | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1878–1881 | Cambridge University | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Source: CricInfo, 22 September 2008
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley, JP, DL (13 March 1859 – 10 April 1927), styled Hon. Ivo Bligh until 1900, was a British noble, parliamentarian and cricketer.
Bligh captained the England and MCC team in the first ever Test cricket series against Australia with The Ashes at stake in 1882/83.
Later in life, he inherited the earldom of Darnley and sat at Westminster as an elected Irish representative peer.
Bligh was born in London, the second son of John Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley, by Lady Harriet Mary, daughter of Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1882. At Cambridge, he was secretary of the University Pitt Club.
Although the history of Test cricket between England and Australia dates from 1877, it was after an English team led by Monkey Hornby lost to the Australians at The Oval in 1882, that The Sporting Times newspaper wrote a mock obituary to English cricket, noting that the body would be cremated and the ashes sent to Australia. The following winter's tour to Australia was billed as an attempt to reclaim The Ashes. Bligh's team was successful, winning the three-match Ashes series two-one, although a fourth game, not played for The Ashes, and hence a matter of great dispute, was lost.
...
Wikipedia