Sir Francis Blundell, 1st Baronet (4 September 1579 – 26 April 1625) was an English-born lawyer, politician and administrator in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Biography

Blundell was the second son of a

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of Serfdom, servants in an Peerage of England, English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in Kingdom of England, mid-1 ...

, John Blundell, and Catherine Budoxshyde. He was educated in law at

Broadgates Hall Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

until 1596 and then

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, graduating in 1603. Thanks to a familial connection to Richard Cooke, he was appointed

Surveyor General of Ireland The office of Surveyor General of Ireland was an appointed officer under the Dublin Castle administration of Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries.McParland 1995 The Surveyor General was typically responsible for the surveying, design and constru ...

on 18 February 1609. Between 1613 and 1615 he was the Member of Parliament for

Lifford Lifford (, historically anglicised as ''Liffer'') is the county town of County Donegal, Ireland, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council, although the town of Letterkenny is often mistaken as holding this ...

in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

. Blundell was a remembrancer for Irish affairs from 1617 to 1622, acting as intermediary between

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

and his government in Ireland. During this period, Blundell was knighted on 30 January 1618 and on 13 October 1620 he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of

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in the

Baronetage of Ireland Baronets are hereditary titles awarded by the Crown. The current baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier, existing baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland and Great Britain. To be recognised as a baronet, it is necessary ...

. Blundell was called to the bar as a member of

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in 1618. In 1621, an attempt by Viscount Wallingford to have Blundell elected to the English parliament as the member for

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failed. Despite having been returned by the mayor, he was unseated in favour of Thomas Wentworth without taking any part in the proceedings. In 1622 he assumed the office of

Vice-Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, and chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

and was reappointed to the role by

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in April 1625, dying two weeks later. Blundell had married Joyce Serjeant: they had four sons of which only the eldest George Blundell, survived into adulthood, inheriting his father's title. At the direction of King via the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham, referring to the market town of Buckingham, England, is an extinct title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There were creations of double dukedoms of Bucki ...

, Lady Blundell received a payment of £500 from Sir Francis Annesley (in his role as the new Vice-Treasurer of Ireland), following her husband's death.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blundell, Francis, 1st Baronet 1579 births 1625 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland English barristers Irish MPs 1613–1615 Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies