Sir Edward Charles BlountKCB (16 March 1809 – 15 March 1905) was an English banker inParis and promoter of Frenchrailways.
Born into a Catholic family at Bellamour, nearRugeley, Staffordshire, he was the second son ofEdward 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 beingWalter Blount the herald. He was sent young toRugeley 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 toSt Mary's College, Oscott, and stayed until 1827.[1]
After a short time in the London office of theProvincial 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 atHolland 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 metCardinal Weld andCardinal Wiseman; and at the palace ofQueen Hortense he first met her son, the futureNapoleon 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. 7Rue Laffitte. The business proved successful, and he afterwards joined Charles Laffitte, nephew ofJacques Laffitte, in forming Charles Laffitte, Blount & Co., Rue Basse du Rempart.[1]
Blount concentrated on the promotion of railway enterprises in France, where in 1836 there was just one short line, betweenStrasbourg andBâle. In 1838 a French government bill for the construction of seven major trunk-lines under the control of the state was defeated, and the way thrown open to private enterprise. Blount offeredJules Armand Dufaure, then minister of public works, to construct a jointly-financed line from Paris toRouen; the proposal was accepted, and a company, theChemin de fer de l'Ouest, was formed by Blount, who became chairman. Backers includedJames Rothschild andLord Overstone, and the directors were half French and half English. The law authorising Blount's firm to construct the railway from Paris was signed by KingLouis Philippe on 15 July 1840, and the line, designed byJoseph Locke withThomas Brassey as contractor, was opened on 9 May 1843.[1]
William Barber Buddicom, the locomotive manager of theLondon and North Western Railway at Liverpool, brought 50 English drivers to France, Blount himself learned engine-driving, and the line prospered from the first. Blount remained chairman for thirty years. With his partner, Laffitte, Blount next constructed in 1845 the line fromAmiens toBoulogne by way ofAbbeville andNeufchâtel-Hardelot. Subsequently (1852–53) he was administrator of the lines fromLyon toAvignon, and between Lyon,Mâcon andGeneva.[1] He invested also in other European railways and projects.[2]
Blount helped Louis Philippe's family escape theFrench Revolution of 1848. His bank failed, and while the creditors were eventually paid in full, he had to retire toSt. 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. 7Rue de la Paix. The venture prospered. Blount acted as banker to the Papal government. After theunification of Italy of 1859, and the annexation of thePapal 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.[1]
On the outbreak of revolution in Paris on 4 September 1870, and the foundation of theFrench Third Republic, Blount wound up the affairs of his bank and transferred the business to theSociété Générale of Paris, of which he became president.[1]
When the Prussian forces threatened Paris, Blount sent his wife and family to England, but remained with his son Aston through thesiege of Paris.Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons the British ambassador, left forTours on 17 November and Blount took charge of British interests, being formally appointed British consul on 24 January 1871. During the siege he withRichard Wallace and Alan Herbert distributed relief aid from United Kingdom.[1]
Blount dined withOtto von Bismarck atVersailles after the fall of the city, and left for London at the end of March 1871. Convinced that the British should have come to the rescue of France, he spoke his mind toW. E. Gladstone, the prime minister.[1]
For his services, Blount was madeCB on 13 March 1871, becomingKCB (civil) on 2 June 1878. He was also a commander of theLégion d'Honneur.[1]
In 1894 Blount resigned the chairmanship of the Chemin de fer de l'Ouest, at a time of xenophobia; his fellow directors elected him honorary president. He maintained a position in English and French society in Paris, and was for many years president of the British chamber of commerce there. His financial interests extended beyond France. He was a director among other ventures of the General Credit and Finance Company (afterwards the Union Discount Company of London) and of the London Joint Stock Bank.[1]
Devoted tohorse racing, Blount followed the stable of the Comte de Lagrange, and was a member of the French Jockey Club. The Comte died in 1883, and he then kept a small stable of his own.[1]
In June 1901 Blount retired from the presidency of his banking concern, the Société Générale of Paris; leaving France, he was made honorary president. He then settled at his Sussex home, Imberhorne,East Grinstead. He died at East Grinstead on 15 March 1905, aged 96, and was buried in the family vault at the cemetery of St. Francis,Crawley, Sussex. He built a Catholic school nearBirmingham, and a church at East Grinstead.[1]
Blount dictated his memoirs to a neighbour, Stuart J. Reid, who published them in 1902.[1] Blount was a surrealist amateur photomontagist. He created an album with hundreds of photo-montages which might be very revealing to a psychoanalyst.[3]
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.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Blount, Edward Charles".Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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