Family and Education

b. by 1529, 1st s. of Sir Richard Blount of Mapledurham, Oxon. by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Richard Lyster of Southampton, Hants; bro. of Richard^†. m. by 1558, Mary, da. and event. coh. of Roger Moore of Bicester, Oxon., 5s. inc. Sir Charles^† and Richard^† 6da. suc. fa. 12 Aug. 1564. Kntd. Jan. 1591.2

Offices Held

J.p. Bucks. 1569-84/87, q. Oxon. 1583-?d.; sheriff, Bucks. 1577-8, Oxon. 1587-8, 1598-9; lt. of the Tower June 1590-Nov. 1595.3

Biography

Michael Blount and his father sat in the same two Parliaments, which were separated by a ten-year interval. The conclusion that Sir Richard Blount engineered his son’s election is strengthened, in respect of the Parliament of March 1553, both by Michael Blount’s youthfulness and by the fact that he was returned for Winchelsea, where nothing short of nomination by or on behalf of the crown would have sufficed. Such a nomination Sir Richard Blount could have hoped to elicit either from the King, whom he had served in the privy chamber throughout the reign, or from the Duke of Northumberland, whose comptroller was his kinsman Thomas Blount^†.

Between this and his next appearance in the Commons, which was quickly followed by his entry on his inheritance, the only notable event in Blount’s life appears to have been his marriage to the coheir of an estate which had been formed out of the lands of Bicester priory, Oxfordshire, an alliance which was to involve him in much contention in later life. He built the present house at Mapledurham, where a portrait is preserved. He died on 11 Nov. 1609.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Patricia Hyde

Notes

• 1. Add. 34150, f. 139.
• 2. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m., C142/142/105. A. Croke, Croke Fam. ii. 258-61; J. Bayley, Tower of London (1821), 124; Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxviii), 56; VCH Bucks. iii. 289.
• 3. CPR, 1569-72, p. 223; A. Collins, Sidney State Pprs. i. 372; APC, xix, 308; CSP Dom. 1595-7, 137; HMC Hatfield, iv. 49.
• 4. C2 Eliz./B19/30, B27/24; Croke, ii. 259; C142/ 315/188.