Richard Bligh Explained

Richard Bligh (1780-1838) was a chancery barrister. The son of John Bligh and a cousin of Admiral William Bligh,^[1] he was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1803 and M.A. in 1806. He was called to the bar by the Society of the Inner Temple on 1 May 1807^[2] and was admitted to the Society of Lincoln's Inn on 17 November 1826.^[3] He became an equity draftsman at the chancery bar. He was a hard worker, and had a fair amount of practice in his profession; but a considerable amount of his time was taken up by reporting in the House of Lords, in which business he was engaged for several years.

Works

His works, in the order of their publication, are:

• A Report of the Case of Bills of Exchange made payable at Bankers, as decided in the House of Lords. London. 1821.
• Reports of Cases heard in the House of Lords on Appeals and Writs of Error. 10 vols. 1823.^{[4] [5]}
• A Digest of the Bankrupt Law. 1832.^{[4] [6]}
• Bellum Agrarium; a Foreview of the Winter of 1835, suggested by the Poor Law Project, with observations on the Report and the Bill. 1834.
• Reports of Cases in Bankruptcy. 1835. Bligh was aided in this work by Basil Montagu.^[4]

References

• • Venn and Venn (eds). "Bligh, Richard". Alumni Cantabrigienses. Volume 2: From 1752 to 1900. Part 1. Cambridge University Press. 1940. Reprinted 2011. Page 298.
• Frederic H Forshall. "Richard Bligh". Westminster School: Past and Present. Wyman & Sons. Great Queen Street, London. 1884. Pages 292 and 293.
• Joseph Welch. "R Bligh". The List of the Queen's Scholars of St. Peter's College, Westminster. G W Ginger. London. 1852. Page 452. See also page 451.
• Thompson Cooper. "Bligh, Richard". A Biographical Dictionary. George Bell & Sons. York Street, Covent Garden, London. 1890. Volume 1. Page 238. A New Biographical Dictionary. Macmillan and Co. New York. 1874. Page 238.
• Marvin. Legal Bibliography. 1847. Page 130.
• Survey of London. Volume 24. Page 81.

Notes and References

1. Dictionary of National Biography. Errata. 1904. Page 29.
2. James Whishaw. "Bligh, Richard". A Synopsis of the Members of the English Bar. Stevens and Sons. A Maxwell. London. 1835. Page 17. See also page 177.
3. The Records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn. Volume 2: Admissions 1800 to 1893 and Chapel Register. 1896. Page 121.
4. Bligh, Richard (1780-1838?). James. Mew. 5. 218.
5. For reviews of these reports, see "Law Reporting" (1831) 2 The Legal Observer 34 (21 May 1831); "Law Reporting" (1831) 3 The Legal Observer 128 (24 December 1831); and "English Law Reporting" (1831) 3 United States Law Intelligencer and Review 341 (September 1831). For a list of volumes, see Catalogue of the Library of the Great Seal Patent Office, Titles, 1857, p 179. For further commentary on these reports, see Fox, A Handbook of English Law Reports, 1913, pp 11 & 12.
6. For a review of this book, see "Notices of New Books" (1832) 4 The Legal Observer 39 (19 May 1832)