Blount, Charles (1563–1606)

English soldier, a friend of the 2nd Earl of Essex. Blount accompanied him and Raleigh on their unsuccessful expedition to the Azores in 1597. He became Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1601 and quelled the revolt led by the Irish chief Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, when the Irish failed in their attempt to reach a Spanish force that had arrived at Kinsale in 1601. He subdued most of Ireland and was created earl in 1603. He was knighted in 1586.