Irish peer
Arms of Bligh: Azure, a griffin segreant or armed and langued gules between three crescents argent [ 1] Edward Bligh, 2nd Earl of Darnley (9 November 1715 – 22 July 1747), lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent , was an Irish peer born of an English family who resided in Kent .
The eldest son of John Bligh, 1st Earl of Darnley and Lady Theodosia Hyde, Baroness Clifton , he was educated at Westminster and at Geneva. He succeeded his mother as Baron Clifton in 1722 and, in 1728, his father as Earl of Darnley .
Lord Darnley was a Grand Master of Freemasons (1737 to 1738), elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (in 1737) and in 1742 was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales : a position that he held until his death. He was one of the Whigs who, under the auspices of William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath , opposed Robert Walpole 's office. Although he never married, he is reputed to have been the lover of the popular Irish actress Margaret Woffington .
According to Westminster Abbey's Funeral Book and Burke's Peerage he died at Cobham Hall , the family seat, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 1 August 1747, aged 31.[ 2]
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