Second Breadfruit Voyage
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Vice-Admiral of the Blue William Bligh FRS RN |
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1814 portrait
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| 4th Governor of New South Wales | |
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In office 13 August 1806 – 26 January 1808 |
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| Preceded by | Philip Gidley King |
| Succeeded by | Lachlan Macquarie |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 September 1754 Plymouth, Devon, England, Great Britain (or St Tudy, Cornwall, England) |
| Died | 7 December 1817 (aged 63) 25 Bond Street, London, England, UK |
| Resting place | St Mary-at-Lambeth, Lambeth, London, England |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth (Betsy) Betham |
| Children | 6 children, including Mary Putland |
| Occupation | Naval officer, colonial administrator |
Vice-Admiral William Bligh FRS (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The Mutiny on the Bounty occurred during his command of HMS Bounty in 1789; after being set adrift in Bounty's launch by the mutineers, Bligh and his loyal men reached Timor, a journey of 3,618 nautical miles (6,701 km; 4,164 mi).
Seventeen years after the Bounty mutiny, on 13 August 1806, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales in Australia, with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the New South Wales Corps. His actions directed against the trade resulted in the so-called Rum Rebellion, during which Bligh was placed under arrest on 26 January 1808 by the New South Wales Corps and deposed from his command, an act which the British Foreign Office later declared to be illegal. He died in Lambeth, London on 7 December 1817.
William Bligh was born on 9 September 1754, but it is not clear where. It is likely that he was born in Plymouth, Devon, as he was baptised at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth on 4 October 1754, where Bligh's father, Francis (1721–1780), was serving as a customs officer. Bligh's ancestral home of Tinten Manor in St Tudy near Bodmin, Cornwall, is also a possibility. Bligh's mother, Jane Pearce (1713–1768), was a widow (née Balsam) who married Francis at the age of 40. Bligh was signed for the British Royal Navy at age seven, at a time when it was common to sign on a "young gentleman" simply to gain, or at least record, the experience at sea required for a commission. In 1770, at age 16, he joined HMS Hunter as an able seaman, the term used because there was no vacancy for a midshipman. He became a midshipman early in the following year. In September 1771, Bligh was transferred to Crescent and remained on the ship for three years.
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