Lieutenant-general Edward Bligh (19 September 1769 – 2 November 1840), styled The Honourable from birth, was a British Army officer, a member of the Irish House of Commons, a noted amateur cricketer and a prominent early member of Marylebone Cricket Club.
[2][3] His mother was a "wealthy heiress" and the only child of a leading Irish barrister, John Stoyte from Streete, County Westmeath.
[3] After leaving Eton, Bligh entered the British Army, initially being commissioned into the Coldstream Guards as an ensign in 1787.
[3][10] The brothers opened the batting for Kent against a Hampshire side in 1790 and both played regularly in first-class matches.
[11][12] Arthur Haygarth describes Edward Bligh as "one of the best gentlemen bats of his day",[13] and he scored a total of 1,311 runs in first-class matches.
[f][3][15] He served alongside his nephew Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley as one of the Governors of Meath in 1831.