Edward-Charles Blount

Sir Edward Charles Blount (16 March 1809 – 15 March 1905) was an English banker in Paris and promoter of French railways.

Early life Born into a Catholic family at Bellamour, near Rugeley, Staffordshire, he was the second son of Edward Blount (1769–1843) and his wife, Frances (died 1859), daughter of Francis Wright of Fitzwalters, Essex. He had four brothers, none of whom married, the eldest being Walter Blount the herald. He was sent young to Rugeley Grammar School, where the local Anglican vicar was master, which at home he studied French with Father Malvoisin, an émigré Catholic priest. In 1819, he went to St Mary's College, Oscott, and stayed until 1827.

After a short time in the London office of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, he moved to the home office. Through his father he moved as a young man in Whig society, and sometimes attended breakfast parties at Holland House. In the autumn of 1829, Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville, British ambassador in Paris, appointed him attaché to the embassy; next year he was transferred to the consulate at Rome. At Rome he met Cardinal Weld and Cardinal Wiseman; and at the palace of Queen Hortense he first met her son, the future Napoleon III. In 1831 he left Rome to join the Paris banking firm of Callaghan & Co. With his father's help, he soon started the bank of Edward Blount, Père et Fils, at No. 7 Rue Laffitte. The business proved successful, and he afterwards joined Charles Laffitte, nephew of Jacques Laffitte, in forming Charles Laffitte, Blount & Co., Rue Basse du Rempart.

Third bank Blount helped Louis Philippe's family escape the French Revolution of 1848. His bank failed, and while the creditors were eventually paid in full, he had to retire to St. Germains and retrench. With the aid of Brassey and other wealthy friends he started in the autumn of 1852 a third banking business, Edward Blount & Company at No. 7 Rue de la Paix. The venture prospered. Blount acted as banker to the Papal government. After the unification of Italy of 1859, and the annexation of the Papal States to the new kingdom, he took on the transfer of the financial liabilities of the Papal States to the new Italian government, and the conversion of the papal debt.

Family On 18 November 1834, Blount married Gertrude Frances, third daughter of William Charles Jerningham. She died on 9 November 1907. Of their two sons and three daughters, he was survived only by his younger son, Henry Edmund Blount.