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. 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 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. Cricket career Although the history of Test cricket between England and Australia dates from 1877, it was after an English team led by Monkey Hornby lost to the Australians at The Oval in 1882, that The Sporting Times newspaper wrote a mock obituary to English cricket, noting that the body would be cremated and the ashes sent to Australia. The following winter's tour to Australia was billed as an attempt to reclaim The Ashes. Bligh's team was successful, winning the three-match Ashes series two-one, although a fourth game, not played for The Ashes, and hence a matter of great dispute, was lost. A small terracotta urn was presented to The Hon. Ivo Bligh, as England captain, by a group of Melbourne women after England's victory in the Test series. The urn is reputed to contain the ashes of a bail, symbolising "the ashes of English cricket". While the urn has come to symbolise The Ashes series, the term "The Ashes" predates the existence of the urn. The urn is not used as the trophy for the Ashes series, and, whichever side "holds" the Ashes, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's. Since the 1998/99 Ashes series, a Waterford crystal trophy has been presented to the winners. Bligh is commemorated by a poem inscribed on the side of the urn: When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn; Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return; The welkin will ring loud, The great crowd will feel proud, Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;