Art Kavanagh - Bligh & Bolton of Meath

Bligh & Bolton of Meath

Copyright Art Kavanagh 2013

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Bligh & Bolton of Meath

Kavanagh, Art

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Bligh of Clifton Lodge

Prior to his death in1817 fame made a will in which he named his relative,John Bligh, the Earl of Darnley , as one ofhis two executors. Because of the bad press he received in thenovels concerning the Mutiny on his ship, the achievements of thisrather remarkable man have been overshadowed. Having been castadrift in a small boat with eighteen other officers and men, Bligh,a top class seaman, managed to get them to safety after a gruellingforty seven day trip. The descendants of the mutineers, led byFletcher Christian , still live on PitcairnIsland to this day.

William Bligh who joined the Royal Navy in 1770 soon rose toprominence. He was described as being an intelligent man,well-versed in science and mathematics and was also a talentedwriter and illustrator. At the age of twenty two he became SailingMaster on the Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook. He wasappointed Captain of the sloop HMS Falcon in 1790, followed byservice on HMS Medea and HMS Providence. In 1797 he commanded HMSDirector at the battle of Camperdown and as Captain of HMS Glattonin 1801 took part in the battle of Copenhagen , after which he was commended for his bravery by AdmiralNelson. Also in 1801 Bligh was elected a fellow of the RoyalSociety, in consideration of his distinguished services innavigation and his expertise in botany and horticulture. He wasappointed Governor of New South Wales in1805 but there faced another mutiny and was imprisoned by themutineers for two years. He returned to England after his release and in 1814 he was appointed a Rear Admiraland later Vice Admiral. He had six daughters. TheDarnley s Island in the Torres Strait iscalled after the Bligh relatives

Captain William Bligh

A linen draper, ,originally from Plymouth, was employed as agent for the adventurersof the forfeited estates in post Cromwellian Co. Meath. He came toIreland and became an adventurer himself and speculator on a largescale in confiscated lands in Meath in the baronies of Lune andMorgallion and settled at Rathmore . He wasan M.P. for Athboy and also a governmentofficial holding the post of a commissioner of Customs and Excisefrom 1648-1663. His properties were adjacent to the confiscatedlands that later became the property of King James II. John Bligh, who was married to a sister ofthe Bishop of Lincoln, died in 1666 and his son, Thomas, appears tohave bought more land in the area at a later date bringing thefamily holding in the area to a healthy 25,000 acres.

Thomas (1654-1710), was anM.P. and a Peace Commissioner, but does not appear to have held anyhigher government post. His wife was ElizabethNaper , the daughter of Colonel James Naperof Loughcrew and they were married in1682. They had a number of children and the eldest son was JohnBligh born in 1687.

When King James came to Ireland in 1689 the Act of Settlement wasset aside and Protestants like Taylor ofKells , Peppard of Ballygarth, Bligh of Rathmore , JamesNepper alias Tandy Napper of Druistown andabout forty others, were outlawed and attainted unless theyacknowledged James. Thomas Bligh and his Protestant Meathneighbours threw in their lot with William of Orange who emerged victorious after the Battle of theBoyne and the Siege ofLimerick .

It is not known but can besafely assumed that Thomas vacated his Rathmore lands during the conflict. It is most likely that he sent hiswife and children to England for theperiod.

Thomas was succeeded inRathmore by his son John Bligh (1687-1728). During his brief lifetime, JohnBligh catapulted the Linen Drapers descendants into the ranks ofthe Aristocracy. His first strategic move was marrying LadyTheodosia Hyde, Baroness Clifton, the only daughter and heir of the3 rd Earl of Clarendon in 1713. Eight years later he was created apeer as Baron Clifton of Rathmore. The following year he was madeViscount of Darnley ofAthboy , in the same year his wife died,and finally Earl of Darnley in 1725. As part of her inheritanceTheodosia came into the possession of and its estate, in Kent . From thistime onwards Cobham Hall became the principal residence of theEarls of Darnley.

Cobham Hall

John and Theodosia had twosurviving sons, Edward and John and three daughters, Mary, Ann andTheodosia. All three ladies married. Marys husband was WilliamTighe of Rosanna, Co.Wicklow . Ann was married twice and bothher husbands were from Co. Down . Her firsthusband was Robert McGill and her second husband was BernardWard the 1 st ViscountBangor . William Crosbie , the 1 st Earl of Glandore, was Theodosiashusband.

After his fathers deathin 1728, Edward (1715-1747) became the 2 nd Earl ofDarnley . It is unlikely that Edward the2 nd Earl spent much time in Ireland and he seems to have beenclose to the court, becoming a lord in waiting to the Prince ofWales in 1742. He was also a Free Mason and was elected GrandMaster, and duly installed at Fishmongers-hall on the 28th ofApril 1737, in presence of the duke of Richmond, the earls ofCrawford and Wemsys, Lord Gray, and many other respectablebrethren. During the year he was Grand Master the Prince of Waleswas initiated at an occasional lodge convened for the purpose atthe palace of Kew. He was very active in promoting Freemasonryduring his tenure of the office Upwards of sixty lodges wererepresented at every Communication during Lord Darnley'sadministration, and more Provincial patents were issued by him,than by any of his predecessors. Deputations were granted forMontserrat, Geneva, the Circle of Upper Saxony, the Coast ofAfrica, New York, and the Islands of America. Edward never marriedand was succeeded by his brother, John, following his prematuredeath in 1747.

was quite a young man when he inherited the Meathand Kent estates. In the early19 th century these estates consisted of 25,463 acres in Meath and9,309 acres in Kent and must have been of a similar size when Johninherited. He didnt rush into matrimony and was 45 years old whenhe married an heiress, Mary Stoyte , thedaughter of a well-to-do barrister from Street,Westmeath . The 3 rd Earl was an M.P. forAthboy in 1739 and an M.P. for Maidstone,Kent, for six years from 1741 until his brothers death, when hemoved into the House of Lords. We must presume that, like hisbrother, he lived mainly at Cobham Hall and left the running of his Irish estates to agents. Thefamily did have a residence near Athboy, called CliftonLodge.