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THOMAS BLOOD,THE MAN WHO STOLE THE CROWN JEWELS.

Thomas Blood, sometimes known as Colonel Blood or Captain Blood, the son of a blacksmith, was born in County Clare in the west of Ireland in the year 1618. He was raised in County Meath and educated in England.

He joined the Royalist forces of King Charles II at the start of The English Civil War in 1642. As the war progressed however, and it became evident that the tide was turning against the forces loyal to the King, he deserted them, joining up with the Roundheads under Oliver Cromwell, with whom he achieved the rank of lieutenant.

At the end of the conflict he was awarded land grants and appointed a justice of the peace by Cromwell in recognition of his services.

With the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 however, Thomas Blood fled the country with his family, returning home to Ireland.

The Act of Settlement 1662, which abolished the previous Act of Settlement 1652, saw the confiscation of Blood's lands. With this grievance, he and fellow old Cromwellions plotted to stir up an insurrection in Ireland.

This plot was to sieze the stronghold of Dublin castle and kidnap the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (the Duke of Ormonde). However, on the eve of the plot, the conspiracy, which had for a long time been expected, was discovered and foiled.

Many of the conspirators, some of whom were high officials in Ireland, were caught, tried and executed, but not Thomas Blood. He managed to escape capture, by being given refuge in the homes of his countrymen and hiding out in the mountains.

Thomas Blood the Man who Stole the Crown Jewels

ABOVE: A PORTRAIT OF THOMAS BLOOD.

He was eventually able to make his way to the Netherlands, where by all accounts he was very well received. It was widely accepted by many 19th century historians, that within the next few years he made the aquaintance of George Villiers, The 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who took Blood into his employ.

In spite of him probably being the most wanted man in England, with a heavy price on his head, Thomas Blood returned there in 1670. Assuming the name Ayloffe, he took up practice as a Doctor in Romford.

However, his burning ambition for revenge on The Duke of Ormonde had not subsided. Thomas Blood had carefully monitored Ormonde's every movement and discovered that the Duke, on his return from Ireland, had taken up residence at Clarendon House, the home of the Duke of Clarendon.

Thomas Blood and his henchmen put the second plan to kidnap The Duke of Ormonde into action on the night of 6th December 1670.

Dragging The Duke from his coach, they set off up Piccadilly on horseback with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn. However, although very nearly succeeding, the plan fell apart when one of The Duke's servants gave chase.

In the melee that followed, The Duke and his servant managed to escape, reversing the fortunes of Thomas Blood and his accomplices, as they found that they themselves were now the hunted party.

After a very close pursuit, they too managed to escape and despite a reward being offered, were not identified as being the prospective kidnappers.

It was The Duke of Buckingham in fact who was accused, by Ormonde's son, of being the mastermind behind the crime and who threatened to shoot him dead if any violence occurred which led to his father's death.

This second unsuccessful attempt by Thomas Blood to kidnap Ormonde, and a reward of £1000 which was placed on his head, did nothing to disuade him from seeking revenge for the lands and wealth which he considered had been stolen from him.

It was in the following year, that he tried and almost succeeded in stealing the Crown Jewels from their home in The Fortress that was the Tower of London.

He devised a plan whereby dressed as a Parson and accompanied by a woman pretending to be his wife, they would visit the tower in order to see the Crown Jewels, which were on view to anyone who was prepared to pay for the priviledge.

It was whilst viewing the Jewels that Blood's wife pretended to be taken ill, and on appealing to Talbot Edwards, the keeper of the Jewels, they were invited by the keeper's wife into their apartment where she could recover. They later left Mr. and Mrs. Edwards with their most heartfelt expressions of gratitude

It was several days later that the Rev. Blood returned to visit them, with four pairs of white gloves, as a gift to Mrs. Edwards in appreciation of the act of kindness she had shown towards them on their previous visit.

A firm friendship developed between the Edwards family and Rev. Blood, who having convinced them of his sincerity, then proceeded to talk of his elligible nephew.

Several more visits occurred and it was on one of these visits, that Blood suggested a meeting between Edwards pretty daughter and his own nephew.

The keeper of the jewels was delighted at the suggestion, moreso when the Parson revealed his nephew would receive a generous income once he was married. Arrangements were then made for the meeting to take place on 9th May 1671.

On the eve before the meeting, Thomas Blood told his friend the keeper, he had some friends staying with him, who would like to see the jewels, but on account of them leaving early in the morning, could they possibly be accommodated early on the following day, prior to their departure. Edwards readily agreed.

It was at 7am on 9th May, when the Parson, together with his nephew and two other men dutifully arrived. The keeper greeted them and led Blood and two of the men into the jewel room, while Blood's nephew offered to stand watch outside.

Once inside the room however, the keeper was unceremoniously knocked out by a blow from a mallet, bound and gagged and according to some reports, stabbed with a sword.

No time was lost, for as soon as the keeper was overpowered, the Crown of St. Edward was flattened, the Sceptre was cut in two so they could both be put into a bag and the Orb was stuffed down the Reverend Blood's trousers. Reports vary as to what happened next.

One theory is that Edward's son, who had either been away in Europe fighting a war, or on a very long voyage at sea, had just returned home. At the same time, the older Edwards, apparently not having been tied as securely as was thought, managed to free himself sufficiently to remove his gag, shouting,

"Treason, Murder".

The alarm was now raised and in the rush to escape, The Sceptre was dropped. Blood then fired a shot at a warder who was stationed on the drawbridge. Although the shot had missed the warder, he dropped to the ground out of fear. Blood and his men were captured.

What happened after his capture is quite remarkable, and remains a mystery to this very day. He was taken to the palace to be questioned by King Charles II, after repeatedly refusing to speak to anyone else but the King himself.

It was to the utter disgust of many high ranking officials, not least the Duke of Ormonde, that Blood was pardoned and to add insult to injury, he was also given land in his native Ireland, which would bring him in five hundred pounds a year.

There have been numerous speculations by historians regarding the outcome of the interrogation, ranging from the possibility that Blood may have been a spy, in the employ of the King himself, or that King Charles II may have feared an uprising by forces, sympathetic to Blood, of whom there were many.

Thomas Blood, despite his notorious reputation, died of natural causes in 1680 at the age of sixty two. He was buried in St. Margaret's Churchyard Westminster, but it is alleged that the remains were exhumed and are now believed to lie in an unmarked plot, in the grave yard of St. Andrew's Church in Hornchurch.

His son, Holcroft Blood, was Commander of the Duke of Marlborough's artillery at the victorious Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

His descendant's include: Major General Sir Bindon Blood, 1842-1940,

Brian Inglis, 1916-1993 - Television Presenter of All Our Yesterdays, which was a review of events which happened 25 years previously and What the Papers Say, a weekly review of newspapers.