Location
On the north side of the main pillars of the Baptistry (see Cathedral Plan).
HE WAS FROM HIS YOUTH TRAINED UP IN MARSHALL [MARTIAL] AFFAIRS. HE WENT OVER WITH THE EARL OF LEICESTER IN THE LOW COUNTRIES ABOUT THE AGE OF 15 YEARS, WHERE WITH SUCH GOOD CIRCUMSPECTION HE CARRIED HIMSELF THAT FOR HIS VALOUR HE WAS HIGHLY COMMENDED, AND FROM THENCE RETURNNG HE WAS IMPLOYED IN THE WARS OF BRITAIN AGAINST THE SPANIARDS UNDER THE CONDUCTION OF GENERAL NORRISSE, WHERE HE VERY VALIANTLY BEHAVED HIMSELF AND WAS THERE TAKEN PRISONER AND RANSOMED BY HIS FATHER. AT THE JOURNEY TO CALAIS (CALES OR CADIZ?) HE WENT WITH THE EARL OF ESSEX WHERE FOR HIS GOOD SERVICE HE RECEIVED THE ORDER OF KNIGHTHOOD. AT THE JOURNEY INTO THE ISLANDS HE WENT LIKEWISE WITH THE SAID EARL AS COLONEL, AND LASTLY HE WENT OVER TO IRELAND WITH THE SAID EARL, AND WAS COLONEL GOVERNOR OF CAHIR CASTILL.
BUT IN HIS RETURN HOME UPON THE SEA HE DEPARTED THIS LIFE IN HIS PRIME AND FLOURISHING YEARS ABOUT THE AGE OF 32. AS HIS LIFE WAS PLEASING TO HIS FREINDS SO HIS DEATH YIELDED COMFORT TO THOSE THAT WERE PRESENT, WITH THE ASSURED HOPE OF HIS JOYFUL RESURRECTION HE YIELDED UP HIS SOUL TO GOD THAT FIRST GAVE IT, AND HIS BODY TO THE EARTH WHEREOF IT WAS MADE.
Further Information
This memorial plaque is said to be the oldest in the Cathedral.
Charles Blount, Knight was the son of Sir Michael Blount, who was Constable of the Tower of London. He was a cousin of Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy (d.1606 London) later the Earl of Devon, who was Captain of the Town and Isle of Portsmouth. He was also a kinsman of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex whose sister Lady Penelope Rich née Devereux, married Lord Mountjoy on 26 December 1605 at Wanstead House London after a longstanding "common law" marriage.
Both Blount cousins became Freemen of Portsmouth on 26th December 1593. and the young Charles accompanied the Earl of Essex on an expedition to capture Cadiz in June 1596. After the capture he was knighted (probably one of many Essex knighted on board ship before returning the England; the Queen complained that he should not have given the honour to so many). He later accompanied the Earl of Essex to Ireland 1599 and became "Coronell Governor" [Colonel] of Cahir Castle in Tipperary. He died the following year aged 32 years on the voyage back to England, and was buried in St Thomas's Church, now the Cathedral.
