Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy

The Right Honourable Baron Mountjoy KG
Baron Mountjoy: extract from The Somerset House Conference (1604)
Predecessor	William Blount, 7th Baron Mountjoy
Other titles	1st Earl of Devonshire
Born	1563 Hooke Park, Dorset,[citation needed] England
Died	3 April 1606(1606-04-03) (aged 42–43) Savoy House, London, England
Spouse(s)	Penelope Devereux
Issue	Penelope Rich Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport Elizabeth Blount John Blount
Parents	James Blount, 6th Baron Mountjoy Catherine Leigh

Charles Brooke Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire, KG (pronounced Blunt; 1563 – 3 April 1606), was an English nobleman and soldier who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Elizabeth I, and later as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under James I. He was instrumental in forcing the Irish confederacy's surrender in the Nine Years' War, and he is also known for his scandalous affair with married noblewoman Penelope Rich, whom he later married.

Blount entered court around 1583 and quickly found favour with the queen. He succeeded to the family title as 8th Baron Mountjoy in 1594. After the Earl of Essex's failed Irish campaign, Blount was appointed as Lord Deputy and commanded the Crown's forces during the final years of the Nine Years' War. He was able to defeat confederacy leader Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and the 4th Spanish Armada at the Siege of Kinsale, and captured Tyrone's headquarters at Dungannon before peace was agreed at the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603.

The old title of Earl of Devon was recreated for him in 1603, after returning to England, but he is usually referred to as Baron Mountjoy (his title during the most prominent period of his career). Since it was much later decided that the "Devon" earldom had not in fact become extinct, but was merely "in abeyance" in 1603, he is usually now regarded retrospectively as the 1st Earl of Devonshire. He is not related to the later Cavendish Earls (then Dukes) of Devonshire from the second creation in 1618.