TOPIC:

Major Charles Hubert Blount, 20th Battery Royal Field Artillery, died from dysentery, at Wynberg on 23rd February 1900. He was born in July 1855, educated at Uppingham from 1868-71, entered the Royal Artillery in August 1875, being promoted Captain in August 1884 and major in 1892. He served as adjutant of Volunteers from June 1888 to September 1892. [Dooner, p32]

South Africa-Cape Town: Wynberg St Johns Cemetery


I came across the story of the English singer, James Blunt [birth name James Hillier Blount] who wrote a song for his dying father, Col Charles Blount.

He is the first of three children to Colonel Charles Blount and Jane Ann Farran Blount (née Amos). His father was a cavalry officer in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars and then a helicopter pilot and colonel of the Army Air Corps. His mother started up a ski chalet company in Méribel. The Blount family has a long history of military service, dating back to the arrival of their Danish ancestors in England in the 10th century.

Having been sponsored through university on an army bursary, Blunt was committed to serve a minimum of four years in the armed forces. He trained at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in intake 963, and was commissioned into the Life Guards, a reconnaissance regiment. He rose to the rank of captain.
The Life Guards, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, were primarily based in Combermere Barracks. Blunt was trained in British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta, Canada, where his regiment was posted for six months in 1998 to act as the opposing army in combat training exercises.
In 1999, Blunt volunteered to join a Blues and Royals squadron deploying with NATO to Kosovo. Initially assigned to carry out reconnaissance of the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia–Yugoslavia border, Blunt's troop worked ahead of the front lines, locating and targeting Serbian forces for the NATO bombing campaign. On 12 June 1999, the troop led the 30,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force from the Macedonia border towards Priština International Airport. However, a Russian military contingent had moved in and taken control of the airport before his unit's arrival. American NATO commander Wesley Clark ordered that the unit forcibly take the airport from the Russians. General Mike Jackson, the British commander, refused the order, telling Clark that they were "not going to start World War Three for you". Blunt has said that he would have refused to obey such an order if General Jackson had not blocked it.
During Blunt's Kosovo assignment he had brought along his guitar, strapped to the outside of his tank, and would sometimes perform for locals and troops. It was while on duty there that he wrote the song "No Bravery".
Blunt extended his military service in November 2000, and was posted to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in London, as a member of the Queen's Guard. During this posting, he was featured on the television programme Girls on Top, a series highlighting unusual career choices. He stood guard at the coffin of the Queen Mother during her lying in state and was part of the funeral procession on 9 April 2002.
A keen skier, Blunt captained the Household Cavalry alpine ski team in Verbier, Switzerland, becoming the Royal Armoured Corps giant slalom champion in 2000. He left the army on 1 October 2002 having served six years. [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blunt ]

Col Charles Blount and his son, James Blunt



Does anyone know if there are family ties between this Colonel Charles Blount and Major Charles Blount who died at Wynberg on 23rd February 1900?

Colonel Charles Blount was the great grandson of Major Charles Blount who died at Wynberg on 23rd February 1900. Here is the lineage:
Col. Charles Hubert Boulby Blount is my 5th cousin, born 1945, son of:
Hubert Ignatius Blountand Marion Emily Barclay (1906-1990) (Marion was my 4th cousin 1x removed) – Hubert was born 26 April 1910 at Ootacamund, Madras, India, died 1 February 1979 at Clay-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, son of:
Greville Hubert Robins Blount and Gladys Isabel Wilson (1879-1910) (Gladys was my 3rd Cousin 2x removed) - Greville was born 23 February in Woolwich, Middlesex, died 23 February 1914 in St Nazaire, France, son of:
Charles Hubert Blount and Eleanor Maud Philips (1857-1891) – Charles was born 22 July 1855 in Eveshamm, Worcestershire, and died 23 February 1900 at Wynberg, Cape Town, South Africa