He seems to have been a lenient and benevolent despot in his dealings towards the poor, of which many instances are recorded by J. D. Lang, Jas. Bonwick, R. Therry, and other colonial writers; and—a good sign—he was very fond of little children.
Dr. Alfred Gatty, tells us how, when he went as a boy to Farningham, Admiral Bligh used to take him on his knee, and let him play with a bullet that hung on a blue ribbon round his neck—the same bullet which he used as a weight for doling out the daily portion of bread to his crew and to himself during their long boat-voyage of nearly 4,000 miles.
The Admiral's hasty temper, his room full of books, and his sea curiosities, of course attracted the boy's attention, and more especially a scar on his cheek, about which the old gentleman told him the following story. When George III. at a levée asked him in what action he had been wounded, Bligh was obliged to acknowledge, with some confusion, that it was not a battle-wound; but that his father, in throwing a hatchet to turn a horse which they were both trying to catch in an orchard, accidentally struck him on the cheek.
As regards his family, the following additional remarks may prove not unacceptable:
Lady O'Connell, one of Bligh's daughters, seems to have inherited some of her father's spirit, for she is said to have defended him on one occasion with a pistol 'against rebels,' in Van Diemen's Land. Frances and Jane were twins. Ann was a beauty, but mentally afflicted. On one occasion the young ladies were followed home from Farningham Church by a stranger, who was the subject of a little hoax played upon him by the Misses Bligh. He had advertised for a wife, and they replied to the advertisement by requesting him to appear, blowing his nose demonstratively, in the aisle of the church; by which process he was to be recognised. But so were also Frances and Jane Bligh; for they found it impossible to conceal their laughter at the would-be Benedict's performance, and their dupe accordingly followed them home after the service. Here, however, he was received by the Admiral himself with such emphatic broadsides that the wooer very quickly 'hauled off.'
Bligh's House at Farningham was, and is still known as the Manor House; and having heard that it still contained a picture of one of the Admiral's sea-fights, I asked my obliging correspondent, Mr. H. G. Hewlett (then living at Mount Pleasant, Farningham), to ascertain the facts for me, with the following result:
'I sent over to the Manor House yesterday to obtain a report upon the picture; but, unfortunately, it is hung in the chamber of a maiden lady, who demurred to admitting visitors. They could only learn that it is a naval battle-piece, in which several men-of-war take part; that the scene is off the coast, and that several figures are wading to shore. Its size is about 3 ft. by 2 ft.; the carving round the picture, which is let into the wall, is said to be fine. The room is called Admiral Bligh's, and is supposed to be haunted by his ghost, which stumps about on a wooden leg! Miss K——, however, is not superstitious, it appears, and has not heard or seen the ghost!'
