THE HON. AND REV. EDWARD VESEY BLIGH, J. P., uncle of the Earl of Darnley, died suddenly at Fartherwell, West Malling, Kent, on April 22nd, in his eightieth year. Scores and Biographies (iii., 613) says of him: A hard hitter, especially excelling in the drive, bowls slow round-armed, and fields generally middle wicket or short- slip. He was also at one time a very fair wicket-keeper. He was born in London, on February 28th, 1829, and was a member of a family which has been intimately associated with Kent cricket for over a hundred years. He did not obtain a place in the Eton Eleven, but was more fortunate at Oxford, playing against Cambridge on Cowley Marsh in 1850, when he scored 27 and 0 and was on the winning side. During the fifteen years over which his career as a county cricketer extended he assisted Kent on twenty-three occasions, taking eight wickets at a cost of 18 runs each and making 395 runs with an average of 11.28, his highest innings being 53 against England at Canterbury in 1862. His name will also be found in the Middlesex XI. in 1862, although in that year he assisted Kent as well. From 1850 until 1855 he was in the Diplomatic Service, being successively Attaché at Hanover, Florence, and Berlin, but afterwards entered the Church. Mr. Bligh was one of the original trustees on the Mynn Memorial Benevolent Institution for Kentish Cricketers and the author of a most interesting pamphlet, printed at Maidstone in 1896 for private circulation, entitled Former Kent Cricket.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack