Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, KG (1 August 1474) was an English politician.

Early life and family

Walter Blount was born about 1416, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Blount (1378–1456) and Margery Gresley and grandson of Sir Walter Blount.

Career

He was made Steward of the High Peak in Derbyshire and became a bitter rival of the local Vernon and Longford families, replacing the Vernons in parliament as the near-permanent

Knight of the Shire Knight of the shire () was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 ...

(1447, Feb. 1449, 1450–51, 1453–54, 1455–56, 1460–61) for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. He succeeded his father, Sir Thomas Blount, as Treasurer of Calais in 1460, becoming governor a year later as a reward for service rendered to King Edward IV at the

Battle of Towton The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between a ...

. Edward conferred on him in 1467 rich estates in Devon forfeited by the Earl of Devon; and in 1465 Blount was made lord high treasurer and created

Baron Mountjoy The titles of Baron Mountjoy and Viscount Mountjoy have been created several times for members of various families, including the Blounts and their descendants and the Stewarts of Ramelton and their descendants. The first creation was for Walter ...

. This creation is noteworthy as one of the earliest examples of a baronial title not being of a territorial character, nor the title of a dignity already existing. Blount's great-grandfather had married Isolda, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas de Mountjoy, and the title was probably chosen to commemorate this alliance. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1472. On his death on 1 August 1474 in

Greyfriars, London In London, the Greyfriars was a Conventual Franciscan friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-West of the City of London by Newgate in the parish of St Nicholas Shambles, St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Fran ...

, his grandson Edward Blount, 2nd Baron Mountjoy inherited his title. His eldest son (and Edward's father) Sir William Blount had been killed at the

Battle of Barnet The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a War of succession, dynastic conflict of England in the Middle Ages, 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured t ...

in 1471.

Marriages and children

Mountjoy married firstly Helena Byron, the daughter of

John Byron (died 1450) Sir John Byron (1386–1450) was an English nobleman, landowner, politician, and knight. He had estates in Clayton near Manchester and at South Stoke (now Stoke Rochford) in Lincolnshire. He was Member of Parliament for Lancashire in 1421 an ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. *William Blount, eldest son and heir, who died in 1471 of wounds received at the

. * John Blount, 3rd Baron Mountjoy, second son. * James Blount, third son. *Edward Blount. *Anne Blount. *Elizabeth Blount. By November 1467 Mountjoy married secondly Anne (née Neville), widow of

Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 6th Earl of Stafford, 7th Baron Stafford (15 August 1402 – 10 July 1460) of Stafford Castle in Staffordshire, was an English nobleman and a military commander in the Hundred Years' War and t ...

(d. 1460), and daughter of

Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland Earl Marshal (c. 136421 October 1425), was an English nobleman of the House of Neville. Origins Ralph Neville was born about 1364, the son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville by his wife Maud Percy ( ...

Early life and family

Career

Marriages and children

Notes

References

Further reading