Florence Bligh, Countess of Darnley

Florence Rose Bligh (née Morphy), Countess of Darnley, DBE (c. 1860 – 30 August 1944) was the Australian-born wife of Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley.

Florence Bligh, née Morphy

Life

Florence Morphy was born in Victoria, daughter of John Stephen Morphy, sometime police magistrate at Beechworth, who died in 1861.[1][2][3] She met Ivo Bligh at Rupertswood when he captained the English cricket team that visited Australia in 1882-83.[4] According to one report, she was the leader of the Melbourne ladies who presented Bligh with "a tiny silver urn, containing what they termed 'the ashes of Australian cricket.'"[5] (There is reason to believe, from that description and other records, that more than one "Ashes urn" came into being over time, the one she gave to the MCC after her husband's death in 1927[6] being of terracotta, not apparently silvered.)

She and Bligh were married in St. Mary's Church, Sunbury, with the reception held at Rupertswood, near Melbourne, Australia on 9 February 1884.[4][7] In 1900, when her husband succeeded to the title of Earl of Darnley, she became Countess of Darnley.[8]

In 1902 she co-wrote, with Randolph Hodgson, a romantic novel titled Elma Trevor. In the novel, the eponymous heroine, "loved by one man ... marrie[s] another, and in the end discovers that she is made for a third".[9] Also in 1902, under the pen-name "Hildred Codrington", she wrote a religious novel, The Silvery Dawn, "written for the purpose of illustrating the power of righteousness and truthfulness as principles of human action".[10] She also wrote hymns under the same pen-name.[3]

During the First World War she and her husband set aside the state apartments of their home, Cobham Hall in Kent, to accommodate 50 Australian officers.[11] Lady Florence was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919.[12]

She died on 30 August 1944 and was buried in the collegiate church of St Mary Magdalene, Cobham, Kent[13] Her grave, and that of her husband, was rededicated in May 2011.[14]

Family

Husband:

Children:

  • Esme Ivo Bligh, 9th Earl of Darnley (11 October 1886 – 29 May 1955)
  • Lt.-Col. Hon. Noel Gervase Bligh (14 November 1888 – 1984)
  • Lady Dorothy Violet Bligh (8 February 1893 – 16 January 1976)

References
  1. "The Late Mr. Warden Morphy". Argus: 5. 17 July 1861.
  2. "John Stephen Morphy". Shared Tree. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  3. Haigh, Gideon (26 December 2017). "Florence Morphy: trophy wife behind Ashes". The Australian. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  4. Summary of Events The Illustrated Australian News, 20 February 1884, (foot of column 2) at Trove
  5. Cricket Hobart Mercury, 4 June 1908, p.8, at Trove
  6. Christopher Martin-Jenkins, The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers, Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 21.
  7. A Fashionable Marriage Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil, 12 March 1884, p. 42, at Trove
  8. "Person Page - 5672". The Peerage. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  9. "The Countess of Darnley's novel". Argus. 28 June 1902. p. 6.
  10. "Some New Books". The Age: 4. 19 July 1902.
  11. "Personal". Argus: 6. 1 March 1917.
  12. London Gazette (PDF) https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31422/page/8088/data.pdf. Retrieved 26 November 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49518753/florence-rose-bligh. Retrieved 26 November 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. Lord's https://www.lords.org/lords/artefactdetails/Library/13850?page=8. Retrieved 26 November 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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