https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Charles_Hubert_Boulby_BlountCharles Hubert Boulby Blount - Revision history2026-08-19T04:18:59ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Hubert_Boulby_Blount&diff=373481&oldid=prevBot: robot: Create/update articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.2022-09-29T19:32:53Z<p>robot: Create/update articles. If there is a mistake please report on my <a href="/wiki/User_talk:Bot" title="User talk:Bot">talk page</a>.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|English cricketer and airman (1893–1940)}}<br />
{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2013}}<br />
{{Infobox military person<br />
|name= Charles Blount<br />
|image= Air Force (RAF) Air Vice Marshal C H B Blount (British Generals 1939-1945 O177).jpg<br />
|image_size= 300px<br />
|alt= <br />
|caption= AVM Blount at [[Arras]], France circa 1939–1940<br />
|birth_date= {{birth date|1893|10|26|df=yes}}<br />
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1940|10|23|1893|10|26|df=yes}}<br />
|birth_place= [[Kamthi|Kamptee]], [[Maharashtra]], [[British Raj]]<br />
|death_place= near [[Hendon Aerodrome]], [[London]], [[England]]<br />
|placeofburial= <br />
|nickname= <br />
|allegiance= United Kingdom<br />
|branch= [[British Army]] (1913–18)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–40)<br />
|serviceyears= 1913–40<br />
|rank= [[Air Vice Marshal]]<br />
|unit= <br />
|commands= [[No. 22 Group RAF|No. 22 Group]] (1939–40)<br/>[[No. 4 Group RAF|No. 4 Group]] (1938–39)<br/>[[No. 2 Group RAF|No. 2 Group]] (1937–38)<br/>[[No. 70 Squadron RAF|No. 70 Squadron]] (1930–32)<br/>[[No. 7 Squadron RAF|No. 7 Squadron]] (1926–27)<br/>[[No. 4 Squadron RAF|No. 4 Squadron]] (1920–25)<br/>[[No. 34 Squadron RAF|No. 34 Squadron]] (1917–18)<br />
|battles= [[First World War]]<br/>[[Second World War]]<br />
|awards= [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Military Cross]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)<br/>[[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Knight of the Order of the Crown]] (Belgium)<br/>[[Silver Medal of Military Valor]] (Italy)<br />
|relations= <br />
|laterwork= <br />
}}<br />
[[Air Vice Marshal]] '''Charles Hubert Boulby Blount''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|OBE|MC}} (26 October 1893 – 23 October 1940) was a British soldier, airman and first-class cricketer.<br />
<br />
==Family==<br />
Blount was born in Kamptee (now [[Kamthi]]), [[Bombay Presidency]], India. His father, Major Charles Hubert Blount (1855–1900), served with the 20th Battery, [[Royal Field Artillery]], and died of [[dysentery]] at [[Wynberg, Cape Town]], [[Cape Colony]], during the [[Second Anglo-Boer War]].<br />
<br />
Blount was the first son of his father's second marriage, to Mary Elizabeth Bell. He had half-siblings from his father's first marriage to Eleanor Maud Philips, including Blount's half-brother, Captain Greville Blount, [[Royal Horse Artillery|RHA]] (1883–1914), who died in France during the first year of the [[World War I|First World War]],<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/325792 CWGC entry for Captain Greville Blount]</ref> who is a great-grandfather of singer [[James Blunt]].<br />
<br />
Blount's younger brother, John Hillier Blount, attended [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst|Sandhurst]] and was granted temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant in the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]] in April 1918. He joined the nascent [[Royal Air Force]], but died in an aircraft crash near [[Beverley]] in July 1918.<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/397195 CWGC entry for Second Lieutenant John Hillier Blount]</ref><br />
<br />
Blount's son, Christopher Charles Blount, was born 1925. He became a Squadron Leader in the RAF. He married Susan Victoria Cobbold, the second daughter of [[Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold]], in 1957, and was later awarded the [[Royal Victorian Order|MVO]].<br />
<br />
Blount's great-great nephew is singer [[James Blunt]] (né James Hillier Blount).<br />
<br />
==Cricket==<br />
Blount attended [[Harrow School]]. He played [[cricket]] in the 1910, 1911 and 1912 [[Eton v Harrow]] matches, losing each time. The 1910 Eton v Harrow cricket match became known as [[Fowler's match]], after the captain of [[Eton College]], [[Robert St Leger Fowler]], whose outstanding [[all-rounder|all-round]] [[batting (cricket)|batting]] and [[bowling (cricket)|bowling]] performance allowed Eton to win the match by 9 runs despite being asked to [[follow on]] early on the second day, 165 runs in arrears after the teams' first innings. The teams included one schoolboy who would become a field-marshal ([[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Harold Alexander]]), another an air vice-marshal (Blount), and a third an attorney-general ([[Walter Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley|Walter Monckton]]), together with various sons of nobility.<br />
<br />
Blount was wicket-keeper in the 1911 Eton v Harrow match, and captain in 1912, he scored 137 runs in the second innings of the 1912 match, but could not prevent Eton winning by 6 wickets.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/211/211391.html Scorecard for Eton v Harrow, 1912]</ref> He also played six matches for [[Suffolk County Cricket Club|Suffolk]] in the [[Minor Counties Championship]] in 1910 to 1912, for [[I Zingari]] against Harrow in 1921, and for [[Free Foresters]] against Harrow in 1937.<br />
<br />
He played 10 first-class cricket matches between 1920 and 1930, four for the [[Combined Services cricket team]] and six for the [[Royal Air Force cricket team]], scoring 575 runs at an average of 33.82, including his maiden century in his last first-class match against the Army in 1930, and took 12 wicket at an average of 25.25.<br />
<br />
His name is recorded on the [[War memorial|roll of honour]] at [[Lord's Cricket Ground]].<br />
<br />
==Army and Air Force career==<br />
Blount attended [[RMC Sandhurst]] immediately after leaving school, and became a Second Lieutenant in the [[Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment]] in September 1913. He was promoted to Lieutenant in October 1914, and then Captain in March 1916. He was taught to fly a [[Maurice Farman]] biplane in 1916 and became a [[Flying Officer]] in the [[Royal Flying Corps]]. He was awarded the [[Military Cross]] on 14 November 1916 for organising his squadron and his own flying.<br />
<br />
He took command of a [[flight (military unit)|flight]] of [[No. 34 Squadron RAF|No. 34 Squadron]], flying the [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], in November 1916, became the squadron's acting commander in May 1917, and was confirmed as its commanding officer the following month, flying the [[Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8]]. He was promoted to Temporary Major in June 1917, and became a Temporary Major in the RAF on 1 April 1918. He was also awarded the Italian [[Silver Medal of Military Valor]].<br />
<br />
He was appointed as commander of the [[Artillery and Infantry Co-operation School]] in May 1918, and was promoted to Acting Lieutenant Colonel on 1 May 1919. He resigned his commission in the Royal West Surrey Regiment in August 1919 after obtaining a permanent commission as a Squadron Leader in the RAF (with seniority backdated to 1 April 1918).<br />
<br />
He commanded [[No. 4 Squadron RAF|No. 4 Squadron]] at [[Farnborough Airfield|Farnborough]], flying the [[Bristol F.2 Fighter]], from March 1920 to 1925. His squadron took part in the [[Chanak Crisis]] in 1922, flying off [[HMS Argus (I49)|HMS ''Argus'']]. He was appointed OBE on 3 June 1924, and attended the [[RAF Staff College, Andover|RAF Staff College]] in 1925. He was promoted Wing Commander in 1925, and took command of [[No. 7 Squadron RAF|No. 7 Squadron]] at [[RAF Bircham Newton]] in April 1926, flying the [[Vickers Vimy]] and [[Vickers Virginia]].<br />
<br />
He joined the [[Directorate of Operations and Intelligence]] in 1927, and commanded [[No. 70 Squadron RAF|No. 70 Squadron]] from 1930 to 1932, flying the [[Vickers Victoria]] at [[RAF Hinaidi]] in Iraq. He was promoted Group Captain in 1932, and commanded the Engineering Staff at [[RAF Iraq Command|HQ Iraq Command]] from April 1932, before being appointed Commandant of the [[School of Army Co-operation]] at [[RAF Old Sarum]] in April 1933.<br />
<br />
He became [[senior air staff officer]] (SASO), [[No. 2 Group RAF|No. 2 (Bombing) Group]] in August 1936, and was promoted to air commodore in 1937, becoming temporary AOC, No. 2 (Bombing) Group and then succeeding [[Stanley Goble]] as [[air officer commanding]] (AOC), No. 2 (Bombing) Group in December 1937. He became AOC, [[No. 4 Group RAF|No. 4 (Bomber) Group]] in May 1938. In July 1939, he was promoted to air vice marshal and became AOC, [[No. 22 Group RAF|No. 22 (Army Co-Operation) Group]].<br />
<br />
In September 1939, soon after the beginning of the [[World War II|Second World War]], Blount became AOC of the Air Component of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]], part of [[British Air Forces France]]. This was an [[RAF Command]] set up under the command of Air Marshal [[Arthur Barratt]] to provide unified control of all RAF units based in France. The Air Component of the BEF provided RAF reconnaissance and fighter cover.<br />
<br />
In May 1940, after the [[Battle of France]], Blount returned to England and resumed his post as AOC, No. 22 (Army Co-Operation) Group. He was appointed [[Order of the Bath|CB]] on 11 July 1940.<br />
<br />
==Death==<br />
[[File:De_Havilland_DH95_Flamingo.jpg|The [[De Havilland Flamingo|De Havilland Hertfordshire]] of 24 Squadron that crashed on 23 October 1940 with the loss of 11 lives including Blount|right|thumb]] <br />
Blount was killed in an air accident in October 1940, when a scheduled flight from [[Hendon Aerodrome]] to Belfast – where he was due to meet [[HQ Northern Ireland|GOC, Northern Ireland]] – crashed near the airfield shortly after taking off, three days before his 47th birthday. He was buried in the south-west corner of the churchyard at St Mary the Virgin's Church, [[Essendon, Hertfordshire|Essendon]]. He is commemorated on the Felixstowe War Memorial, where the death of his younger brother, John Hillier Blount in an accidental air crash in 1918 is also commemorated.<ref>[http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Suffolk/Felixstowe.html Felixstowe War Memorial]</ref><ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2932654 CWGC entry]</ref><br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist|30em}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
*[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Blount_C.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice-Marshal C H B Blount]<br />
*[http://www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/229833.html ''Wisden'' obituary, 1941]<br />
*[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27966/27966.html Profile] from CricketArchive<br />
*[http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9821.html Profile] from [[Cricinfo]]<br />
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100118184113/http://www.oldsarumairfield.co.uk/2009/more-egls/officers-in-command/147-air-vice-marshal-c-h-b-blount.html Old Sarum – Officers in Command]<br />
*[http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Library/Cley%20towermill%20-%20Blount%20history.pdf John Hillier Blount, family history]<br />
<br />
{{s-start}}<br />
{{s-mil}}<br />
|-<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Stanley Goble]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=[[Air officer commanding]] [[No. 2 Group RAF|No. 2 Group]]|years=1937–1938}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Cuthbert MacLean]]}}<br />
|-<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet|Arthur Harris]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=Air officer commanding [[No. 4 Group RAF|No. 4 Group]]|years=1938–1939}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Arthur Coningham (RAF officer)|Arthur Coningham]]}}<br />
|-<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Bertine Sutton]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=Air officer commanding [[No. 22 Group RAF|No. 22 Group]]|years=July – September 1939}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Norman MacEwen]]}}<br />
|-<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Norman MacEwen]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=Air officer commanding [[No. 22 Group RAF|No. 22 Group]]|years=May – October 1940}}<br />
{{s-vac|next=[[Arthur Barratt|Sir Arthur Barratt]]}}<br />
|-<br />
{{s-end}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blount, Charles Hubert Boulby}}<br />
[[Category:1893 births]]<br />
[[Category:1940 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:English cricketers]]<br />
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]<br />
[[Category:Combined Services cricketers]]<br />
[[Category:Royal Air Force cricketers]]<br />
[[Category:Free Foresters cricketers]]<br />
[[Category:Suffolk cricketers]]<br />
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]<br />
[[Category:Queen's Royal Regiment officers]]<br />
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor]]<br />
[[Category:Royal Air Force air marshals of World War II]]<br />
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II]]<br />
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]<br />
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]<br />
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]</div>Bot