Family and Education

2nd s. but event. h. of Richard Blount^† of Iver, Bucks. and Mapledurham by Elizabeth, da. and h. of William Delaford of Iver. m. by 1529 Elizabeth, da. of Sir Richard Lyster of Southampton, 2s. Michael and Richard Blount II 2da. Kntd. bet. Dec. 1550 and duly 1551.2

Offices Held

Keeper of Caversham park July 1544; steward of Great Marlow manor Feb. 1545; gent. usher of privy chamber by 1537; j.p. Oxon. from 1537; collector of customs, Southampton 17 Oct. 1552-3; jt. (with Sir Francis Knollys) ld. Lt. Oxon. 1559-61; lt. of the Tower from 1560.3

Biography

The Blounts of Iver and Mapledurham were a cadet branch of the Mountjoy family, Blount himself acting as executor to Charles, 5th Lord Mountjoy, in 1544. After coming of age he played a fairly active part in local affairs, though his career lay mainly in the royal household, where he had probably been serving for some years before his name is first recorded as a gentleman usher. He was in high favour in the last years of Henry VIII and under Edward VI and, after lying low in Mary’s reign, became Elizabeth’s lieutenant of the Tower.4

Blount’s main estates were in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and his return as knight for the former county in 1563 reflects his local as well as his national position. He had a number of grants of local offices and lands in other parts of the kingdom, and his will, dated 23 May 1560, mentions lands in Buckinghamshire, Devon, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Sussex, purchased in the previous 20 years. Most of the lands descended to his elder son Michael, but he left Dedisham to his younger son Richard. He died on 11 Aug. 1564 and was buried in the Tower. A memorial to him is in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula there. His will was proved 26 Aug. by his widow.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

• 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
• 2. PCC 20 Adeane; A. Croke, Gen. Hist. Croke Fam. ii. 257-9; CPR, 1550-3, p. 153; 1553 and App. Edw. VI, p. 357.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, xiii(2), p. 499; xix(1), p. 622; xx(1), p. 124; Stowe 571, ff. 55, 60; CPR, 1553 and App. Edw. VI, p. 380; SP 12/12, f, 16.
• 4. Croke, 274; LP Hen. VIII, xix(1), pp. 153, 272; (2), p. 118; PCC 20 Adeane; APC, ii. 423, 428; iii. 166.
• 5. LP Hen. VIII, xix(1), p. 622; xx(1), p. 124; Stowe 571, ff. 55, 6od; PCC 25 Stevenson; CPR, 1563-6, p. 495; J. Bayley, Hist. Antiq. Tower of London (1821), 123.