Background
Bligh was born on 2 September 1918, the only surviving son of Edward Clare Bligh (1887–1976), who was Chief Officer of Welfare Department, London County Council, 1932-1951.
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Timothy Bligh
Edit ProfileEducation
Bligh was educated at Winchester School and Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1940. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and bar and the Defence Science Organisation, and was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Career
During the Second World War, Bligh served in the Royal Navy in the North Atlantic, the English Channel and the Mediterranean, and was twice wounded. Bligh joined the Civil Service in 1946 as an Assistant Principal in the Treasury, and was rapidly promoted, reaching the rank of Under-Secretary in 1959. That year he was appointed Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, whom he served until the latter"s resignation in October 1963.
Bligh then served Macmillan"s successor, Sir Alec Douglas-Home in the same capacity, until Home"s defeat in the 1964 British general election.
In 1964 Bligh left the government"s service to become a director of the media chain the Thomson Organisation, and became its Assistant Managing Director in 1966. He was briefly active in Conservative politics, as an alderman on the Greater London Council from 1967.
Bligh died at his home on 12 March 1969, after a long illness. As the prime minister"s Principal Private secretary Bligh was peripherally involved in the of 1963, a scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo as Secretary of State for War and destabilised the government.
Bligh interviewed Profumo, who denied any wrongdoing but asked if he should resign to avoid embarrassing the government.
He was advised that he should not. Later, when the affair was unravelling, Bligh met Ward, who by then, at the Home Office"s instigation, was under police investigation regarding possible vice charges. Ward asked Bligh if there was anything that could be done to halt the investigation, which was proving ruinous to his practice.
Bligh took no action.
In June 1963 when the scandal reached its climax, Macmillan being absent in Scotland it was to Bligh that Profumo first confessed his guilt, and it was Bligh who transmitted the contents of Profumo"s resignation letter to the prime minister. In 1963 he was appointed a Knight Commander (Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Order of the British Empire, and adopted the style "Sir Timothy Bligh".
Connections
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Born
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Died
March 12, 1969 (aged 50) -
Nationality
British -
Political Party
Conservative