Ivo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley (13 March 1859 – 10 April 1927), styled The Honourable Ivo Bligh until 1900, lord of the manor of Cobham, Kent, was a British nobleman, parliamentarian and cricketer.
Bligh captained the England team in the first ever Test cricket series against Australia with The Ashes at stake in 1882/83. Later in life, he inherited the earldom of Darnley and sat at Westminster as an elected Irish representative peer.
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Background and education
Bligh was born in London, the second son of John Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley, by Lady Harriet Mary, daughter of Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester. He was educated at Cheam School, Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1882. At Cambridge, he was secretary of the University Pitt Club. and played for Cambridge against Oxford in the Real Tennis Varsity Match of 1880.