Court, ordnance and Civil War
Mountjoy Blount was born about 1597 and was the natural son of Charles Blount, Earl of Devonshire, by Penelope, Lady Rich. He was created Baron Mountjoy in the Irish peerage in 1617-18, Baron Mountjoy of Thurveston in 1627, and Earl of Newport in 1628.
He served as rear-admiral for the Rochelle expedition and became Master of the Ordnance for life in 1634. During the 1640s he moved between opposition politics and royalist military service, including fighting with the king’s forces in Yorkshire and being present at the second Battle of Newbury.
After the Restoration, he recovered some standing but was discharged from the ordnance office. He died at Oxford in 1666 and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral.