Died 20 October 1582 | ||
Life
James Blount was born circa 1533 in Newport, Devon, the eldest son of Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy (1516–1544) and Ann Willoughby. He inherited his title on the death of his father. He was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Queen Mary (29 September 1553); and was Lord Lieutenant of Dorset in 1559.
He was one of the commissioners who tried the Duke of Norfolk (1572), and spent the fortune of his family in the pursuit of alchemy. Sir William Cecil encouraged him in the manufacture of alum and copperas between 1566 and 1572.
Blount also had a reputation as a supporter of Protestantism, in line with that of his father and grandfather. Henry Bennet lauded him in 1561, mentioning also his patronage of Eliseus Bomelius, and the same year Jean Veron dedicated to him an anti-papal tract.
Family
He married on 17 May 1558 Catherine Leigh, daughter of Thomas Leigh of St. Oswalds. They had 5 children, William, Charles, Christopher, Ann and Edward.
On his death on 10 October 1582 in Hook, Dorset the title passed to his eldest son William Blount, 7th Baron Mountjoy.