Nicholas Blundell

Nicholas Blundell, sometimes styled "of Crosby", lord of the manor of Great and Little Crosby, was an English landowner seated at Crosby Hall, Lancashire, and is best known for his diaries which provide first-hand insight into the life of 18th-century English gentry.

Family

Devoutly Catholic since the Middle Ages, the Blundells were among the leading recusant families prior to Catholic Emancipation in the 19th century, and progenitors of various cadet branches including the Weld-Blundell family.

Born in Lancashire, his father William Blundell who married Mary Eyre, was the eldest son and heir of William Blundell "the Cavalier", for his exploits during the English [Civil War]. Nicholas Blundell's notebook was first published in 1880 by the Revd. T. E. Gibson A Cavalier’s Note Book and was referenced by Lady [Antonia Fraser] in her work on English 17th-century women, The Weaker Vessel.
The year after his father's death, Nicholas Blundell married the Hon. Frances Langdale having two daughters, the younger of whom Frances succeeded to the ancestral estates upon assuming by Royal Licence in 1772 the surname and arms of Blundell.
Blundell's descendants remain seated at Crosby Hall, now in Merseyside.