BLOUNT, George (c. 1628-66)

George Blount, Lord Mountjoy, was the eldest of three ‘incapable’ sons of Mountjoy Blount, earl of Newport. Although the Complete Peerage refers to him as Mountjoy Blount, his father’s will clearly names him George. Despite being well over 30 years old when he succeeded to the title in 1666, he was deemed underage by the House of Lords at six calls of the House between October 1666 and February 1673. This was clearly their response to the congenital ‘weakness’ to which the 1st earl referred in his will. TNA, PROB 11/319. A similar condition afflicted his maternal uncle William Boteler, 2nd Baron Boteler. Neither the 1st earl nor the House of Lords used the term ‘idiot’ to describe George Blount or his two brothers; the implications (particularly for property ownership) of those legally designated ‘idiots’ were too draconian to be used lightly. Hist. Psychiatry, ix. 65-95, 179-200. The financial arrangements that were to enable the 2nd earl and his brothers to receive all necessary care and support were entrusted to their father’s close friends, William Legge^‡, John Ashburnham^‡, Edward Montagu, 2nd earl of Manchester, and Charles Rich, 4th earl of Warwick.

The 2nd earl of Newport never took his seat in the House, and there is no evidence that he ever used his proxy. He died in March 1675 and was buried in St. Martin-in-the-Fields on 20 Mar. 1675.