Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley

Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley, FRS (25 February 1795 – 12 February 1835), styled Lord Clifton until 1831, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a British peer and politician.

[4][5] Darnley was returned to the House of Commons representing Canterbury in 1818, a seat he held until 1830[6] for the Whig Party.

He also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Meath between 1831 and 1835,[3][7] and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1833.

Emma Jane Parnell, a daughter of Henry Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton, by whom he had three sons and two daughters:[8] Darnley died of lockjaw after an axe injury when felling timber on his estate at Cobham Hall, Kent, in February 1835, aged 39, and was buried at Cobham.

His wife, Emma, Dowager Countess of Darnley, died on 15 March 1884.