Sir John Blount, Kt., MP

Will of Sir Thomas Blount dated 10 March 1523, Names John Blount eldest son, Edward Blount, second son, then Walter, then Arthur, then Robert. Also daughters Joyce, Anne, Elizabeth, Eleanore and Katherine. THe will attempted to favour Edward over John & ingnored the terms of John's marriage and the property seyylement agreed to at the time.

John Blount was knighted 1529. Was serving as Sheriff of Shropshire at his early death.

INQUISITION POST-MORTEM OF SIR JOHN BLOUNT OF KINLET 23 HENRY 8, N. 15
JOHN BLOUNT, Knight, deceased. Salop Inquisition taken at Bruggenorthe 23 Henry 8. Thomas Blount, Knight, father of the said John Blount, was seized of the Manor of Kynlet, & of 20 messuages, 300 a land, 40 a meadow, 200 a pasture, 100 a wood, 40 a heath, & 32s. of rent, in Kynlet, Cottesley, Foxcote, & Ernewode in his demesne as of fee : and by Indenture made at Kynlet, 24th February 6 Henry 7 [etc., as in Inquis. 17 Hen. 8]. Afterwards William Bishop of Lincoln, Edward Sutton of Dudley, Knight, William Blount of Mountj oy, Knight, and others on the 12th Dec. 21 Henry 7, read out a writ of entry surdisseisin in le post against the said Thomas Blount, Knight, then tenant of the premises, whereby the Sheriff of Salop was commanded to render to the said Bishop and the others the said manor & tenements by name of the Manor of Kynlet, and 20 messuages, 300 a land, 40 a meadow, 200 a pasture, 100 a wood, 40 a heath, & 325. of rent in Kynlet, Cattesley, Foxcote, & Ernewode ; which writ was returned, etc. : where- upon the Bishop, etc., recovered the premises against the said Thomas Blount, which recovery was to the & intent mentioned in the said Indenture. Some of the trustees died, and also the said Thomas Blount, and afterwards the said Edward Sutton, William Blount of Mount joy, & others [surviving trustees], by their charter dated 14th February 6 Henry 8 [1514-1515], granted the premises to the said John Blount and Katherine and the heirs of their bodies: remainder to the right heirs of Thomas Blount, Knight. John Blount died 27th Feb. 22 Henry 8 [1530-1531] ; the said Katherine is still living. George Blount, son & heir, set. 18. The Manor of Kynlet and other lands in Foxcote & Erne- wode are held of the Earl of March as of his Honor & Castle of Wyggemore, by fealty only, and it is worth yearly 40Z. The messuages, etc., in Catteley are held of the King in chief, but by what services the jurors know not, they are worth yearly 31. Staff. Writ dated 28 Feb. 22 Hen. 8. Inquis. at Stafford 26 October 23 Henry 8 [A.D. 1531] Thomas Blount, father of the said John, was seized in fee of the Manor of Balterley, etc., & by Indenture, etc. [as in the Inquis. of 17 Hen. 8]. Similar findings as to the heir, the values & tenures of the premises except that the messuages, etc., in Waterfall are said to be held of the heir (or heirs) of Hugh Pessall.
INSCRIPTION on the monument in Kinlet Church to Sir John Blount of Kinlet and Dame Katherine his wife, parents of Elizabeth Blount : " Hie jacet corpus Johanis Blount milit : filii et heredis Thomi Blount milit : filii et hered : Humfrid : Blount mil : ac Dominae Katherinae uxoris filiae et heres : solae Hugonis Pesall milit . ac Dominae Isabellae uxoris suae filiae Dni: Johans : Stanley mil : qui quidm : Johanis Blount obyit xiiij die mensis Febru : Anno Dni: McccccXXXI. cuis: anim: propicietur deus. Amen." " Here lieth the body of John Blount, Knight (son and heir of Thomas Blount, Knight, son and heir of Humfrey Blount, Knight), and of the Lady Katherine his wife, daughter and sole heir of Hugh Pesall, Knight, by the Lady Isabella his wife, daughter of Sir John Stanley, Knight, which said John Blount died the 14th day of the month of February, in the year of our Lord 1531, on whose soul God have mercy. Amen."

BLOUNT, John (after 1480-1531), of Knightley, Staffs. and Kinlet, Salop.

Family and Education

after 1480, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Blount of Kinlet by Anne, da. of Sir Richard Croft of Croft Castle, Herefs.; bro. of Robert II and Walter II. m. 1 Aug. 1492, Catherine, da. and coh. of Hugh Peshall of Knightley, 3s. Sir George, Henry and William 5da. suc. fa. c.1525. Kntd. Nov./Dec. 1529.2

Offices Held

• Esquire of the body by 1509; parker, Cleobury, Salop 1519, jt. steward of the lordships of Bewdley, Worcs. and Cleobury Mortimer, Salop 1519; j.p. Staffs. 1520-6, Salop 1529-d.; sheriff, Staffs. 1526-7, Salop 1530-d.3

Biography

The gentle family of Blount had long possessed property in Staffordshire as well as in Shropshire, and its holding there was enlarged by John Blount’s marriage to a local heiress. During his father’s lifetime he occupied his wife’s family home at Knightley, and it was in Staffordshire that he first held office as a justice and sheriff. However, it is only after the death of his uncle and namesake (d.bef. Feb. 1519) that we can be sure that the John Blount named to Staffordshire commissions is the Member. He carried little weight in Shropshire until he succeeded to the headship of the family, but thereafter he was one of the leading figures in the county.4

Apart from the details of his marriage, its settlement (24 Feb. 1491) and celebration at Kinlet, nothing has come to light about Blount until 1504, when he was bound over with several kinsmen and neighbours in a series of recognizances. His grandfather Sir Richard Croft stood close to Henry VII and he doubtless assisted Blount to procure a post in the Household. In 1509 Blount attended the funeral of Henry VII and the coronation of his successor. In the following decade he was a frequent attendant at the court, and in 1513 he accompanied Henry VIII to northern France as a captain in the army that besieged Tournai. Seven years later he returned to France, not to fight but to witness the pacific royal encounter at the Field of Cloth of Gold. Presumably he was in considerable favour about this time with the King, who had taken his daughter Elizabeth as mistress: Elizabeth had been appointed a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon at the beginning of the reign, and in 1519 she bore the King a son, Henry Fitzroy, later Duke of Richmond.5

When Mary Boleyn displaced Elizabeth as the object of the King’s affection, John Blount apparently retired from the court to manage his estates and to play a more active role in local government. In 1526 he obtained livery of his inheritance and a year later he wrote to Cromwell to intercede on his behalf with Wolsey. His election to Parliament in 1529 as a knight for Shropshire was doubtless a recognition of his newly acquired status in the county and his recent appointment to the bench: his fellow-knight Sir Thomas Cornwall was a distant relation, and both men could trace their descent from Henry III’s brother. This was probably not the occasion of Blount’s first appearance in the Commons: with royal support he may have sat for Shropshire or Staffordshire during his father’s lifetime, but in the absence of the names for the earlier Parliaments his Membership is hypothetical. His grandson Richmond was summoned to the Lords in the autumn of 1529 as the leading temporal peer, and his son-in-law Sir Gilbert Tailboys, Richmond’s stepfather, who was chosen for another county, was elevated before the year was out. Even though Blount is not known to have had any part in Richmond’s upbringing, he shared in the distribution of honours to those connected with the boy and after the Parliament opened he received a knighthood.6

Blount was given a further mark of royal favour when in the autumn of 1530 he was pricked sheriff of Shropshire. He did not survive his term of office, for he died on 27 Feb. 1531, midway through the second session of the Parliament. His death was noted on the list of its Members revised in the following year, and Cromwell then considered possible replacements, but the outcome of the ensuing by-election is not known. Blount’s fellow-knight Cornwall completed his term as sheriff.7

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

• Author: Alan Harding
• Notes
• 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
• 2. Date of birth estimated from marriage. Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxviii), 54; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 3), viii. 85; PCC 30 Alenger; C142/52/15-16.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, i-iii.
• 4. C142/52/15; CPR, 1494-1509, p. 351; LP Hen. VIII, i, iii.
• 5. C142/52/15-16; LP Hen. VIII, i-iii; J. J. Scarisbrick, Hen. VIII, 147-8.
• 6. LP Hen. VIII, iii. iv.
• 7. C142/52/15-16; LP Hen. VIII, vii. 56 citing SP1/82, ff. 59-62
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/bl...
• ___________
• Sir John Blount1,2
• M, #77295, b. 1483, d. 1524
• Father Sir Thomas Blount3 b. c 1456, d. 4 Jun 1524
• Mother Anne Croft3 b. c 1463, d. 27 Sep 1549
• Sir John Blount was born in 1483 at of Kinlet, Shropshire, England.4 He married Catherine Peshall, daughter of Sir Hugh Peshall and Isabel Stanley, circa 1496.1,2 Sir John Blount died in 1524.5
• Family Catherine Peshall b. c 1484
• Child
  • Elizabeth Blount+1,6,2 b. c 1502, d. bt 6 Feb 1539 - 15 Jun 1541
• Citations
• 1.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XII/1, p. 603.
• 2.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 235.
• 3.[S11571] A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. III, by John Burke, Esq., p. 199.
• 4.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XII/1, p. 603; Vol. VII, p. 692, notes.
• 5.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. VII, p. 692, notes.
• 6.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 728-730.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2572.htm#...
• ____________
• Sir John Blount1
• M, #107650
• Last Edited=10 May 2008
• Sir John Blount lived at Kinlet, Shropshire, England.1
• Child of Sir John Blount
  • 1.Elizabeth Blount+2 b. c 1502, d. bt 1539 - 1541
• Citations
• 1.[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 155. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
• 2.[S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003). Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10765.htm#i107650
• ____________
• Isabel STANLEY
• Born: ABT 1464, Knightley, Staffordshire, England
• Father: John STANLEY (Sir)
• Mother: Matilda VERNON
• Married: Hugh PERSHALL (b. ABT 1459) ABT 1472, Knightly, Staffordshire, England
• Children:
  • 1. Catherine PERSHALL (b. ABT 1475) (m. Sir John Blount)
  • 2. Joyce PERSHALL (b. ABT 1477) (m. Humphrey Wolrech)
  • 3. Isabella PERSHALL (b. ABT 1480) (m. Richard Vane)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/STANLEY3.htm#Isabel STANLEY1
• _____________

Sir John BLOUNT

Catherine PERSHALL

Husband: John BLOUNT

Birth: 1484, of Kinlet, Shropshire, England

Father: Sir Thomas BLOUNT of Kinlet

Mother: Anne CROFT

Marriage:

Wife: Catherine/Katherine PERSHALL / PESHALL

Children:

1. Elizabeth BLOUNT, b. ca. 1502

Sources:

1. Helen M. Blount Prescott. 1902. Blount and Blunt. Press of W.F. Roberts, Washington, DC. [This is not a book, but a one-page pedigree chart.]

2. Messages in the Blount Family Genealogy Forum (online at GenForum.com).