Captain Blood steals crown jewels - May 09, 1671 - HISTORY.com Captain Blood steals crown jewels Share this: Captain Blood steals crown jewels Author Captain Blood steals crown jewels URL Publisher A+E Networks In London, Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer better known as “Captain Blood,” is captured attempting to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Blood, a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, was deprived of his estate in Ireland with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. In 1663, he put himself at the head of a plot to seize Dublin Castle from supporters of King Charles II, but the plot was discovered and his accomplices executed. He escaped capture. In 1671, he hatched a bizarre plan to steal the new Crown Jewels, which had been refashioned by Charles II because most of the original jewels were melted down after Charles I’s execution in 1649. On May 9, 1671, Blood, disguised as a priest, managed to convince the Jewel House keeper to hand over his pistols. Blood’s three accomplices then emerged from the shadows, and together they forced their way into the Jewel House.

However, they were caught in the act when the keeper’s son showed up unexpectedly, and an alarm went out to the Tower guard. One man shoved the Royal Orb down his breeches while Blood flattened the Crown with a mallet and tried to run off with it. The Tower guards apprehended and arrested all four of the perpetrators, and Blood was brought before the king. Charles was so impressed with Blood’s audacity that, far from punishing him, he restored his estates in Ireland and made him a member of his court with an annual pension. Captain Blood became a colorful celebrity all across the kingdom, and when he died in 1680 his body had to be exhumed in order to persuade the public that he was actually dead. Related Videos Colonel Blood and the theft of the Crown Jewels By Ben Johnson | Comments One of the most audacious rogues in history was Colonel Blood, known as the 'Man who stole the Crown Jewels'. Thomas Blood was an Irishman, born in County Meath in 1618, the son of a prosperous blacksmith. He came from a good family, his grandfather who lived in Kilnaboy Castle was a Member of Parliament.

The English Civil War broke out in 1642 and Blood came to England to fight for Charles I, but when it became apparent that Cromwell was going to win, he promptly changed sides and joined the Roundheads. When Charles I was defeated in 1653 Blood was made a Justice of the Peace and was granted a large estate, but when Charles II returned to the throne in 1660 Blood fled to Ireland with his wife and son. In Ireland he joined a plot with the disgruntled Cromwellians and attempted to seize Dublin Castle and take the Governor, Lord Ormonde prisoner. This plot failed and he had to flee to Holland, now with a price on his head. in spite of being one of the most wanted men in England, Blood returned in 1670 taking the name Ayloffe and practised as a doctor in Romford! After another botched attempt to kidnap Lord Ormonde in 1670, where Blood narrowly escaped capture, Blood decided on a bold scheme to steal the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewels were kept at the Tower of London in a basement protected by a large metal grille.

The Keeper of the Jewels was Talbot Edwards who lived with his family on the floor above the basement. One day in 1671 Blood, disguised as a 'parson' went to see the Crown Jewels and became friendly with Edwards, returning at a later date with his wife. As the visitors were leaving, Mrs. Blood had a violent stomach-ache and was taken to Edward's apartment to rest. The grateful 'Parson Blood' returned a few days later with 4 pairs of white gloves for Mrs. Edwards in appreciation of her kindness to his wife. The Edwards family and 'Parson Blood' became close friends and met frequently. Edwards had a pretty daughter and was delighted when 'Parson Blood' proposed a meeting between his wealthy nephew and Edward's daughter. On 9th May 1671, 'Parson Blood' arrived at 7am. with his 'nephew' and two other men. While the 'nephew' was getting to know Edward's daughter the others in the party expressed a desire to see the Crown Jewels. Edwards led the way downstairs and unlocked the door to the room where they were kept.

At that moment Blood knocked him unconscious with a mallet and stabbed him with a sword. The grille was removed from in front of the jewels and the crown, orb and sceptre were taken out. The crown was flattened with the mallet and stuffed into a bag, and the orb stuffed down Blood's breeches. The sceptre was too long to go into the bag so Blood's brother-in-law Hunt tried to saw it in half! At that point Edwards regained consciousness and began to shout "Murder, Treason!". Blood and his accomplices dropped the sceptre and attempted to get away but Blood was arrested as he tried to leave the Tower by the Iron-Gate, after unsuccessfully trying to shoot one of the guards. In custody Blood refused to answer questions, instead repeating stubbornly, "I'll answer to none but the King himself". Blood knew that the King had a reputation for liking bold scoundrels and reckoned that his considerable Irish charm would save his neck as it had done several times before in his life. Blood was taken to the Palace where he was questioned by King Charles, Prince Rupert, The Duke of York and other members of the royal family.

King Charles was amused at Blood's audacity when Blood told him that the Crown Jewels were not worth the £100,000 they were valued at, but only £6,000! The King asked Blood "What if I should give you your life?" and Blood replied humbly, "I would endeavour to deserve it, Sire!" Blood was not only pardoned, to the disgust of Lord Ormonde, but was given Irish lands worth £500 a year! Blood became a familiar figure around London and made frequent appearances at Court. Edwards who recovered from his wounds, was rewarded by the King and lived to a ripe old age, recounting his part in the story of the theft of the Jewels to all the visitors to the Tower. In 1679 Blood's phenomenal luck ran out. He quarrelled with his former patron the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham demanded £10,000 for some insulting remarks Blood had made about his character. As Blood became ill in 1680 the Duke never got paid, as Blood died on August 24th of that year at the age of 62.

The Crown Jewels have never been stolen since that day - as no other thief has tried to match the audacity of Colonel Blood! Odd This Day: May 9, 1671 - Thomas Blood attempts to steal the British crown jewels May 9, 2016 Odd This Day: Irish adventurer Thomas Blood, disguised as a priest, (almost) steals the British crown jewels On this day in 1671, a bold and daring attempt to steal the British crown jewels was narrowly thwarted, adding to a long list of bold, daring, and thwarted crimes perpetrated by one “Colonel” Thomas Blood. The attempted theft came a few years after the restoration of the monarchy under King Charles II, marked by a return to a lavish royal lifestyle, including the remaking of the crown jewels after the originals had been destroyed by Oliver Cromwell’s government. The Irish born Blood began the era as a loyal royalist, but switched sides at some point to support the rebellion. Following the defeat of Cromwell and hi subsequent decline in wealth, Blood turned to side-career of crime.

First, he attempted to overthrow the government in Dublin and kidnap a duke (thwarted), and made a later (also thwarted) attempt to murder that same duke. But his most bold and most daring attempt was a heist of the very symbol of the decadence of kings: the new crown jewels. By means of an admirably elaborate set up, and in the garb of a parson, Blood and a lady friend ingratiated themselves with the elderly Talbot Edwards, Master of the Jewel House and his wife, at their quarters at the Tower of London over several visits. As the couples grew friendly, Blood suggested an alliance – would the Edwards’ daughter possibly be interested in a strategic marriage to their wealthy, but sadly single (and also entirely made up) nephew? Perhaps he could bring this nephew by and see how things went with the young people? On May 9, the Edwards and the Bloods met for a friendly dinner, and little hopeful matchmaking. For pre-dinner entertainment, Blood suggested a visit with the crown jewels with his “nephew” and a few friends.

Once inside the jewel house, the men struck their unwitting host with a mallet, covered him with a cloak, bound and gagged him, and then proceeded to ransack the treasures. Clearly not planning on ransoming the goods, the looters smashed St. Edward’s Crown with that same mallet, cut the Sceptre with the Cross into two easier to conceal pieces, and the awkwardly large Sovereign’s Orb was crammed down one of the conspirator’s pants. Here, accounts vary, but somehow, mid-theft, royal orb already snugly placed in the pants, they were interrupted from their work and the alarm raised. Quickly, they fled for their getaway horses, dropping loot and firing on warders as they ran, until they were finally captured and the battered and damaged jewels secured. Proving that possibly, at least in this case that crime may actually pay, not only was Blood personally pardoned by the king for his offenses, he was awarded property in Ireland worth £500 a year, and became something of a notorious man about town in London.

Further Reading: Colonel Thomas Blood – Exequy's Blog Bio , Crime , History Colonel Thomas Blood (1618 – 24 August 1680) was an Anglo-Irish officer and self-styled colonel best known for his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671. Described in an American source as a “noted bravo and desperado”, he was known for his attempt to kidnap, and later, to kill his enemy, the Duke of Ormonde. He had switched allegiances from Royalist to Roundhead during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and despite his subsequent notoriety received a Royal free pardon and found favour at the court of King Charles II. Early life Sources suggest that Blood was born in the County Clare, in the Kingdom of Ireland, the son of a successful land-owning blacksmith of English descent, and was partly raised at Sarney, near Dunboyne, in the County Meath. He was apparently a Protestant Presbyterian. His family was respectable and prosperous (by the standards of the time); his father held lands in the Counties Clare, Meath and Wicklow.

His grandfather was a member of the Irish Parliament, and had lived at Kilnaboy Castle (also in County Clare). He received his education in Lancashire, England. At the age of 20, he married Maria Holcroft, the daughter of John Holcroft, a gentleman from Golborne, Lancashire, and returned to Ireland. At the outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642, Blood returned to England and initially took up arms with the Royalist forces loyal to Charles I. As the conflict progressed he switched sides and became a lieutenant in Oliver Cromwell’s Roundheads. In 1653 at the cessation of hostilities Cromwell awarded Blood land grants as payment for his service and appointed him a justice of the peace. Following the Restoration of King Charles II to the Crowns of the Three Kingdoms in 1660, Blood fled with his family to Ireland.

The confiscations and restitutions under the Act of Settlement 1662 (which sought to cancel and annul some of the grants of land and real properties allocated as reward to new holders being Cromwellians under the Act of Settlement 1652) brought Blood to financial ruin, and in return Blood sought to unite his fellow Cromwellians in Ireland to cause insurrection. Irish discontent As part of the expression of discontent, Blood conspired to storm Dublin Castle, usurp the government, and kidnap James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for ransom. On the eve of the attempt, the plot was foiled. Blood managed to evade the authorities by hiding with his countrymen in the mountains, and ultimately managed to escape to the United Dutch Provinces in the Low Country. A few of Blood’s collaborators were captured and executed. As a result, some historians speculated that Blood swore vengeance against Ormonde. While in the Dutch Republic, Blood gained the favour of Admiral de Ruyter, an opponent of the English forces in the Anglo-Dutch Wars, and was implicated in the Scottish Pentland Rising of 1666 by the Scottish Presbyterian Covenanters.

At some point during this period, Blood became associated with the wealthy George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who 19th-century commentators believed used Blood as a means to punish his own political and social adversaries, since his own class ranking did not allow him to meet them “in the field”. In 1670, despite his status as a wanted man, Blood returned to England and is believed to have taken the name Ayloffe and practised as a doctor or an apothecary in Romford Market, east of London. A second attempt, this time on the life of the Duke of Ormonde, followed. Since Ormonde’s return to England, he had taken up residence at Clarendon House. Blood had followed Ormonde’s movements and noted that he frequently returned late in the evening accompanied by a small number of footmen. On the night of 6 December 1670, Blood and his accomplices attacked Ormonde while the latter travelled St James’s Street. Ormonde was dragged from his coach, bound to one of Blood’s henchmen, and taken on horseback along Piccadilly with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn.

The gang pinned a paper to Ormonde’s chest spelling out their reasons for his capture and execution. With one of his servants who had given chase on horseback, Ormonde succeeded in freeing himself and escaped. The plot’s secrecy meant that Blood was not suspected of the crime, despite a reward being offered for the capture of the attempted assassins. In the King’s presence, James’s son, Thomas Butler, accused the Duke of Buckingham of being behind the crime. Thomas threatened to shoot Buckingham dead in revenge, if his father, James, was murdered. Theft of the Crown Jewels Blood did not lie low for long, and within six months he made his notorious attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. In April or May 1671 he visited the Tower of London dressed as a parson and accompanied by a female companion pretending to be his wife. The Crown Jewels could be viewed by the payment of a fee to the custodian. While viewing the Crown Jewels, Blood’s “wife” feigned a stomach complaint and begged the newly appointed Master of the Jewel House, 77-year-old Talbot Edwards, to fetch her some spirits.

Given the proximity of the jewel keeper’s domestic quarters to the site of the commotion, Edwards’ wife invited them upstairs to their apartment to recover, after which Blood and his wife thanked the Edwardses and left. Over the following days Blood returned to the Tower to visit the Edwardses and presented Mrs Edwards with four pairs of white gloves as a gesture of thanks. As Blood became ingratiated with the family, an offer was made for a fictitious nephew of Blood’s to marry the Edwardses’ daughter, whom Blood alleged would be eligible, by virtue of the marriage, to an income of several hundred pounds. On 9 May 1671, in furtherance of the deception, Blood convinced Edwards to show the jewels to him, his supposed nephew, and two of his friends while they waited for a dinner that Mrs Edwards was to put on for Blood and his companions. The jewel keeper’s apartment was in Martin Tower above a basement where the jewels were kept behind a metal grille. Reports suggest that Blood’s accomplices carried canes that concealed rapier blades, daggers, and pocket pistols. In entering the Jewel House, one of the men made a pretence of standing watch outside while the others joined Edwards and Blood.

The door was closed and a cloak thrown over Edwards, who was struck with a mallet, knocked to the floor, bound, gagged and stabbed to subdue him. After removing the grille, Blood used the mallet to flatten St. Edward’s Crown so that he could hide it beneath his clerical coat. Another conspirator, Blood’s brother-in-law Hunt, filed the Sceptre with the Cross in two (as it did not fit in their bag), while the third man, Parrot, stuffed the Sovereign’s Orb down his trousers. Meanwhile Edwards refused to stay subdued and fought against his bindings. Accounts vary as to whether Edwards’ struggle caused sufficient disturbance to raise the alarm or whether the attempt was foiled in more fortuitous circumstances. Popular reports describe Edwards’ son, Wythe, returning from military service in Flanders, happening upon the attempted theft. At the door of the Jewel House, Wythe was met by the impromptu guard, who challenged him, before the young Edwards entered and went upstairs. The “guard” then alerted his fellow gang members. At around the same time, the elder Edwards managed to free his gag, and raised the alarm shouting, “Treason! Murder!

The crown is stolen!” As Blood and his gang fled to their horses waiting at St Catherine’s Gate, they dropped the sceptre and fired on the warders who attempted to stop them, wounding one. One drawbridge guard was struck with fear and failed to discharge his musket. As they ran along the Tower wharf it is said they joined the calls for alarm to confuse the guards until they were chased down by Captain Beckman, brother-in-law of the younger Edwards. Although Blood shot at him, he missed and was captured before reaching the Iron Gate. Having fallen from his cloak, the crown was found while Blood refused to give up, struggling with his captors and declaring, “It was a gallant attempt, however unsuccessful! It was for a crown!” The globe and orb were recovered although several stones were missing and others were loose. Hunt and Perrot were also taken, but not punished. Aftermath Following his capture, Blood refused to answer to anyone but the king and was consequently taken to the palace in chains, where he was questioned by King Charles, Prince Rupert, and others. King Charles asked Blood, “What if I should give you your life?”, and Blood replied, “I would endeavour to deserve it, Sire!”.

To the disgust of Ormonde, Blood was not only pardoned but also given land in Ireland worth £500 a year. The reasons for the king’s pardon are unknown. Some historians have speculated that the king may have feared an uprising in revenge by followers of Blood, who were thought to have taken an oath to their leader. Others speculate that the king had a fondness for audacious scoundrels such as Blood, and that he was amused by the Irishman’s claim that the jewels were worth only £6,000 as opposed to the £100,000 at which the Crown had valued them. There is also a suggestion that the king was flattered and amused by Blood’s revelation that he had previously intended to kill him while he was bathing in the Thames but had been swayed otherwise, having found himself in “awe of majesty”. It has also been suggested that his actions may have had the connivance of the king, because the king was very short of money at the time. Following his pardon, Blood became a familiar figure around London and made frequent appearances at Court, where he was employed to advocate in the claims of suitors to the Crown.

In John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester’s History of Insipids, he wrote of Blood: Blood, that wears treason in his face, Villain complete in parson’s gown, How much he is at court in grace For stealing Ormond and the crown! Since loyalty does no man good, Let’s steal the King, and outdo Blood! In 1679 Blood fell into dispute with the Duke of Buckingham, his former patron, and Buckingham sued Blood for £10,000, for insulting remarks Blood had made about his character. In the proceedings that followed, Blood was convicted by the King’s Bench in 1680 and granted bail, although he never paid the damages. Death Blood was released from prison in July 1680 but had fallen into a coma by 22 August. He died on 24 August at his home in Bowling Alley, Westminster. His body was buried in the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church (now Christchurch Gardens) near St. James’s Park.

It is believed that his body was exhumed by the authorities for confirmation: such was his reputation for trickery, it was suspected he might have faked his death and funeral to avoid paying his debt to Buckingham. Blood’s epitaph read: Here lies the man who boldly hath run through More villainies than England ever knew; And ne’er to any friend he had was true. Here let him then by all unpitied lie, And let’s rejoice his time was come to die. Assuming his body was exhumed, Blood’s grave is now alleged to be in the graveyard of St Andrew’s church in Hornchurch. Next to the church building nearest the main road is an unmarked grave, apart from a faded skull and cross bones. Legacy Blood’s son Holcroft Blood became a distinguished military engineer and commanded the Duke of Marlborough’s artillery at the Battle of Blenheim. Descendants including Bindon Blood, Maurice Petherick, and Brian Inglis, had distinguished careers in British and Irish society.

The King, the Crown and the Colonel - The National Archives Home > Education > Classroom resources > The King, the Crown and the Colonel The King, the Crown and the Colonel Charles II, Court of the King’s Bench, 1673 (KB 27/1950/2) External links After the execution of Charles I in 1649 many of the Crown Jewels were sold or destroyed. Oliver Cromwell ordered that the orb and sceptres should be broken as they stood for the ‘detestable rule of kings’. All the gemstones were removed and sold and the precious metal was used to make coins. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, two new sceptres and an orb costing £12,185 were made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661. Can you spot any of these items in the picture above? During the ceremony, the new King held the Sceptre with the Cross in his right hand and the Sceptre with the Dove in his left. The sceptre was a rod or staff which represents royal power and the dove refers to the Holy Spirit. The King was crowned with St Edward’s Crown.

At some point the King also held the orb, a hollow golden sphere decorated with a band of jewels and a jewelled cross on top. The orb refers to the King’s role as protector of the church. Charles II allowed the Crown Jewels to be shown to members of the public for a viewing fee paid to a custodian (keeper) who looked after the jewels in the Martin Tower at the Tower of London. In 1671 Thomas Blood was the first and only man who attempted to steal them. After that, the Crown Jewels were kept under armed guard in a part of the Tower known as the Jewel House. Read these sources to find out more about Thomas Blood’s life of crime and his dramatic attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. Tasks Source 4 Background Thomas Blood (c1618-1680) was a rebel, a republican (supporter of government without a king) and a master of disguise. His adventures had involved him dressing as a priest, a doctor of divinity and a Quaker. He took part in numerous plots. Blood was called both ‘Captain’ and ‘Colonel’ at the time.

After his attempt at stealing the Crown Jewels, Blood even acted as a spy for Sir Joseph Williamson, an important politician in Charles II ‘s government, and he often attended court. Thomas Blood was born in Ireland. He fought in the Civil War on the side of Parliament and served as an officer in Cromwell’s army in Ireland. He was granted land in Ireland for his services. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Thomas Blood lost all his lands. He took his revenge when he tried to kidnap James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at Dublin castle in 1663. The plot was discovered and Blood fled to Holland. In 1666 Blood fought on the side of the Scottish Covenanters at Rullion Green to resist changes in the law about the conduct of church services made by Charles II. He returned to England and, not long after, rescued his friend John Mason whilst on his way to trial at York under armed escort. Thomas Blood made a second attempt to kidnap the Duke of Ormonde in London. The plan failed and Blood and his accomplices got away.

It has been suggested that the Second Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, was behind the plan. In 1671, as part of his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels, Blood and his son had got friendly with the keeper. He even arranged a marriage between his ‘nephew’ and keeper Edward’s daughter. However, Blood and his son were caught and imprisoned in the Tower. Several petitions were sent from Blood, his wife Mary and their son, to the Secretary of State, Lord Arlington. They claimed that their health was ‘much impaired by close confinement in the Tower’. King Charles II visited Blood in the Tower in private. Father and son were pardoned and Blood was given a pension in August of that year. It is not clear why Thomas Blood was treated with such generosity. Perhaps it was a reward for previous services. The poet Andrew Marvell even wrote a poem at the time about Blood’s attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. Blood’s body was dug up after he died in 1680 because of stories that he had faked his own death.

Teachers' notes Key stage 3 The lesson considers the story of Thomas Blood and the questions encourage pupils to investigate the sources and try to work out how and why Thomas Blood tried to steal the Crown Jewels. More activities Pupils could use the sources as stimulus material for to a piece of creative writing on the story of Thomas Blood and the Crown Jewels. Create a drama or role-play activity on Thomas Blood. Pupils could use the following extract from John Evelyn’s Diary 1641-1706 as a stimulus to discussion as to why Thomas Blood was pardoned: ‘How he came to be pardoned, and even received into favour, not onely after this, but severall other exploits almost as daring both in Ireland and here, I could never come to understand. Some believed he became a spie of severall parties, being well with the Sectaries and Enthusiasts, and did his Majesties services that way, which none alive could do so well as he; but it was certainely as the boldest attempt, so the onely treason of this sort that was ever pardon’d.

This man had not onely a daring but a villainous unmercifull looke, a false countenance, but very well spoken and dangerously insinuating.’ (Edited by William Bray, published 1819, p437) Pupils could discuss the meaning of this poem by Andrew Marvell (1621-1681), written in August 1672, and compare this version of events with source 2. Whilst valiant Blood, his rents to have regain’d Upon the Royal Diadem distrain’d, He chose the cassock, surcingle and gown, The fittest mask for those who robb the Crown; But his lay pity underneath prevailed, And while he sav’d the Keeper’s life, he failed With the Priests vestments had he but put on A Bishop’s cruelty, the Crown was gone.

Andrew Marvell, Complete Poetry (London: JM Dent & Sons, Ltd, 1984) distrain’d: to seize the property of (a person) in order to compel payment of debts lay pity: brotherly love, compassion, fellow feeling, humanity, kindness, sorrow, sympathy prevailed: to be in force, use, or effect; triumph Royal Diadem: a crown worn as a sign of royalty surcingle: the fastening belt on a clerical robe vestments: a garment, especially a robe or gown worn a by priest External links Thomas Blood (1618 - 1680) - Genealogy Thomas Blood Dunboyne, Meath, County Meath, Ireland Death: in London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom Immediate Family: 1680 - Bowling Alley, Westminster, England Father: William Blood, Thomas Blood, Holcroft Blood Brother: Colonel Thomas Blood (1618 – 24 August 1680) was an Anglo-Irish officer and self-styled colonel best known for his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671.

Described in an American source as a "noted bravo and desperado",[1] he was known for his attempt to kidnap, and later, to kill his enemy, the Duke of Ormonde. He had switched allegiances from Royalist to Roundhead during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and despite his subsequent notoriety received a Royal free pardon and found favour at the court of King Charles II. Sources suggest that Blood was born in the County Clare, in the Kingdom of Ireland, the son of a successful land-owning blacksmith of English descent, and was partly raised at Sarney, near Dunboyne, in the County Meath. He was apparently a Protestant Presbyterian.[3] His family was respectable and prosperous (by the standards of the time); his father held lands in the Counties Clare, Meath and Wicklow. His grandfather was a member of the Irish Parliament, and had lived at Kilnaboy Castle (also in County Clare). He received his education in Lancashire, England. At the age of 20, he married Maria Holcroft, the daughter of John Holcroft, a gentleman from Golborne, Lancashire, and returned to Ireland.

At the outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642, Blood returned to England and initially took up arms with the Royalist forces loyal to Charles I. As the conflict progressed he switched sides and became a lieutenant in Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads. In 1653 at the cessation of hostilities Cromwell awarded Blood land grants as payment for his service and appointed him a justice of the peace. Following the Restoration of King Charles II to the Crowns of the Three Kingdoms in 1660, Blood fled with his family to Ireland. The confiscations and restitutions under the Act of Settlement 1662 (which sought to cancel and annul some of the grants of land and real properties allocated as reward to new holders being Cromwellians under the Act of Settlement 1652) brought Blood to financial ruin, and in return Blood sought to unite his fellow Cromwellians in Ireland to cause insurrection. As part of the expression of discontent, Blood conspired to storm Dublin Castle, usurp the government, and kidnap James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for ransom. On the eve of the attempt, the plot was foiled.

Blood managed to evade the authorities by hiding with his countrymen in the mountains, and ultimately managed to escape to the United Dutch Provinces in the Low Country. A few of Blood's collaborators were captured and executed. As a result, some historians speculated that Blood swore vengeance against Ormonde. While in the Dutch Republic, Blood gained the favour of Admiral de Ruyter, an opponent of the English forces in the Anglo-Dutch Wars, and was implicated in the Scottish Pentland Rising of 1666 by the Scottish Presbyterian Covenanters. At some point during this period, Blood became associated with the wealthy George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who 19th-century commentators believed used Blood as a means to punish his own political and social adversaries, since his own class ranking did not allow him to meet them "in the field". In 1670, despite his status as a wanted man, Blood returned to England and is believed to have taken the name Ayloffe and practised as a doctor or an apothecary in Romford Market, east of London. A second attempt, this time on the life of the Duke of Ormonde, followed.

Since Ormonde's return to England, he had taken up residence at Clarendon House. Blood had followed Ormonde's movements and noted that he frequently returned late in the evening accompanied by a small number of footmen. On the night of 6 December 1670, Blood and his accomplices attacked Ormonde while the latter travelled St James's Street. Ormonde was dragged from his coach, bound to one of Blood's henchmen, and taken on horseback along Piccadilly with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn. The gang pinned a paper to Ormonde's chest spelling out their reasons for his capture and execution. With one of his servants who had given chase on horseback, Ormonde succeeded in freeing himself and escaped. The plot's secrecy meant that Blood was not suspected of the crime, despite a reward being offered for the capture of the attempted assassins. In the King's presence, James's son, Thomas Butler, accused the Duke of Buckingham of being behind the crime. Thomas threatened to shoot Buckingham dead in revenge, if his father, James, was murdered. Blood did not lie low for long, and within six months he made his notorious attempt to steal the Crown Jewels.

In April or May 1671 he visited the Tower of London dressed as a parson and accompanied by a female companion pretending to be his wife. The Crown Jewels could be viewed by the payment of a fee to the custodian. While viewing the Crown Jewels, Blood's "wife" feigned a stomach complaint and begged the newly appointed Master of the Jewel House, 77-year-old Talbot Edwards, to fetch her some spirits. Given the proximity of the jewel keeper's domestic quarters to the site of the commotion, Edwards' wife invited them upstairs to their apartment to recover, after which Blood and his wife thanked the Edwardses and left. Over the following days Blood returned to the Tower to visit the Edwardses and presented Mrs Edwards with four pairs of white gloves as a gesture of thanks. As Blood became ingratiated with the family, an offer was made for a fictitious nephew of Blood's to marry the Edwardses' daughter, whom Blood alleged would be eligible, by virtue of the marriage, to an income of several hundred pounds.

On 9 May 1671, in furtherance of the deception, Blood convinced Edwards to show the jewels to him, his supposed nephew, and two of his friends while they waited for a dinner that Mrs Edwards was to put on for Blood and his companions. The jewel keeper's apartment was in Martin Tower above a basement where the jewels were kept behind a metal grille. Reports suggest that Blood's accomplices carried canes that concealed rapier blades, daggers and pocket pistols. In entering the Jewel House, one of the men made a pretence of standing watch outside while the others joined Edwards and Blood. The door was closed and a cloak thrown over Edwards, who was struck with a mallet, knocked to the floor, bound, gagged and stabbed to subdue him. After removing the grille, Blood used the mallet to flatten St. Edward's Crown so that he could hide it beneath his clerical coat. Another conspirator, Blood's brother-in-law Hunt, filed the Sceptre with the Cross in two (as it did not fit in their bag), while the third man, Parrot, stuffed the Sovereign's Orb down his trousers. Meanwhile Edwards refused to stay subdued and fought against his bindings.

Accounts vary as to whether Edwards' struggle caused sufficient disturbance to raise the alarm or whether the attempt was foiled in more fortuitous circumstances. Popular reports describe Edwards' son, Wythe, returning from military service in Flanders and happening upon the attempted theft.[5][6] At the door of the Jewel House, Wythe was met by the impromptu guard who challenged him before the young Edwards entered and went upstairs. The "guard" then alerted his fellow gang members. Around the same time the elder Edwards managed to free the gag and raised the alarm shouting, "Treason! Murder! The crown is stolen!" As Blood and his gang fled to their horses waiting at St Catherine's Gate, they dropped the sceptre and fired on the warders who attempted to stop them, wounding one. One drawbridge guard was struck with fear and failed to discharge his musket. As they ran along the Tower wharf it is said they joined the calls for alarm to confuse the guards until they were chased down by Captain Beckman, brother-in-law of the younger Edwards. Although Blood shot at him, he missed and was captured before reaching the Iron Gate.

Having fallen from his cloak, the crown was found while Blood refused to give up, struggling with his captors and declaring, "It was a gallant attempt, however unsuccessful! It was for a crown!" The globe and orb were recovered although several stones were missing and others were loose. Hunt and Perrot were also taken, but not punished. Aftermath Following his capture, Blood refused to answer to anyone but the king and was consequently taken to the palace in chains, where he was questioned by King Charles, Prince Rupert, and others. King Charles asked Blood, "What if I should give you your life?", and Blood replied, "I would endeavour to deserve it, Sire!". To the disgust of Ormonde, Blood was not only pardoned but also given land in Ireland worth £500 a year. The reasons for the king's pardon are unknown. Some historians have speculated that the king may have feared an uprising in revenge by followers of Blood, who were thought to have taken an oath to their leader.

Others speculate that the king had a fondness for audacious scoundrels such as Blood, and that he was amused by the Irishman's claim that the jewels were worth only £6,000 as opposed to the £100,000 at which the Crown had valued them. There is also a suggestion that the king was flattered and amused by Blood's revelation that he had previously intended to kill him while he was bathing in the Thames but had been swayed otherwise, having found himself in "awe of majesty".[5] It has also been suggested that his actions may have had the connivance of the king, because the king was very short of money at the time. Following his pardon, Blood became a familiar figure around London and made frequent appearances at Court, where he was employed to advocate in the claims of suitors to the Crown. In John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester's History of Insipids, he wrote of Blood: Blood, that wears treason in his face, Villain complete in parson's gown, How much he is at court in grace For stealing Ormond and the crown! Since loyalty does no man good, Let's steal the King, and outdo Blood!

In 1679 Blood fell into dispute with the Duke of Buckingham, his former patron, and Buckingham sued Blood for £10,000, for insulting remarks Blood had made about his character. In the proceedings that followed, Blood was convicted by the King's Bench in 1680 and granted bail, although he never paid the damages. Blood was released from prison in July 1680 but had fallen into a coma by 22 August. He died on August 24 at his home in Bowling Alley, Westminster. His body was buried in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church (now Christchurch Gardens) near St. James's Park. It is believed that his body was exhumed by the authorities for confirmation: such was his reputation for trickery, it was suspected he might have faked his death and funeral in order to avoid paying his debt to Buckingham. Blood's epitaph read: Here lies the man who boldly hath run through More villainies than England ever knew; And ne'er to any friend he had was true. Here let him then by all unpitied lie, And let's rejoice his time was come to die.

Assuming his body was exhumed, Blood's grave is now alleged[by whom?] to be in the graveyard of St Andrew's church in Hornchurch. Next to the church building nearest the main road is an unmarked grave, apart from a faded skull and cross bones. Legacy Blood's son Holcroft Blood became a distinguished military engineer and commanded the Duke of Marlborough's artillery at the Battle of Blenheim. Descendants including Bindon Blood, Maurice Petherick, and Brian Inglis, had distinguished careers in British and Irish society. Unearth Colonel Blood's Devious Attempt To Steal The Crown Jewels | Historic Royal Palaces Colonel Blood attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Martin Tower. Tower of London, 9 May 1671 Colonel Thomas Blood arrangedto see the Crown Jewels which were kept at the time in the Martin Tower on the inner wall of the Tower. He and his gang overpowered the elderly Jewel House keeper, tied him up and when he struggled, hit him on the head and stabbed him. Excuse me sir, but is that an orb down your breeches? Blood crushed the Imperial State Crown and hid it under his cloak. His son started to saw the Sceptre in half.

Their friend Robert Perot stuck the Orb down his breeches. A foiled attempt Just as they were about to escape, the keeper’s son returned unexpectedly and raised the alarm. Blood was arrested, but once again, the enigmatic adventurer got away with it – and more. No-one’s sure quite why, but ‘the merry monarch’, Charles II, pardoned Blood and gave him a pension! A review of security After Blood’s escapade, security was tightened, iron bars replaced the wooden ones around the Regalia, and, from then on, visitors were not allowed to touch the Crown Jewels. May 9th 1671: Blood tries to steal the Crown Jewels | todayinhistoryblog May 9th 1671: Blood tries to steal the Crown Jewels Thomas Blood (1618 – 1680) On this day in 1671 the Irish colonel Thomas Blood attempted to steal England’s Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Blood, who was a Parliamentarian during the Civil War, was disaffected with the monarchy after losing his Irish estate after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

The theft of the Crown Jewels was one of many attempts at insurrection by the colonel. In 1671 Blood, disguised as a priest, and some accomplices subdued Master of the Jewel House Talbot Edwards after he showed them the jewels and then tried to steal them. Blood flattened the St. Edward’s Crown with a mallet and hid it under his coat, another filed the Sceptre with the Cross in two and a third stuffed the Sovereign’s Orb down his trousers. The strange escapades of Colonel Thomas Blood | History Extra Directory The strange escapades of Colonel Thomas Blood The Irish rogue tried to steal the crown jewels, and shoot Charles II while he was skinny-dipping. So why, asks Robert Hutchinson, did the king go on to offer him a job?

This article was first published in the June 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine Tuesday 19th May 2015 BBC History Magazine - 5 issues for £5 Illustration by Ben Jones Colonel Thomas Blood, that infamous Irish “bravo and desperado”, tried to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London on 9 May 1671, escaping with the imperial state crown and the coronation regalia secreted in the breeches of one of his accomplices. When he was captured on the wharf outside the fortress, he cheekily acknowledged that the outrage “was a gallant attempt, however unsuccessful… [but] it was for a crown”. That Blood should attempt to pull off one of the greatest crimes of English history is remarkable in itself. That King Charles II should pardon the daring thief following his capture, and then offer him a job, is more extraordinary still – especially when you consider Blood’s colourful past. He had, after all, already been involved in an abortive coup d’état in Ireland, countless conspiracies against the crown and the attempted murder of the former Irish viceroy James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, in St James’s Street, London.

Hidden in the reeds alongside the Thames at Battersea, he had also intended to shoot Charles II while the king was skinny-dipping in the river, but had held his fire as his “heart [stopped] him, out of awe for his majesty”. The king lived in constant fear of assassination from a succession of plots involving veteran republicans and religious extremists. London was a hotbed of sedition as nonconformists struggled to win freedom to worship outside the strictures of the Anglican church. Blood was deeply involved in most of these stratagems, if not frequently the ringleader. But why was the colonel not executed immediately for high treason? The plain truth is that this brash Irishman was more useful to Charles alive than being hanged, drawn and quartered – the fate of all traitors. Smooth-talking and brim-full of Irish charm, he demanded a personal interview with the king at Whitehall Palace to seek his reprieve from the scaffold.

Astonishingly, on 12 May 1671, Charles granted him an audience and asked him: “What if I should give you your life?” The colonel pledged: “I would endeavour to deserve it.” Three months later, he and his accomplices were pardoned for “all treasons, murders, felonies [and] assaults” committed by them. But the monarch’s munificence did not end with wiping Blood’s sheet clean of all crimes. The king also granted him property in Ireland, providing an income of £500 a year and a pension for life. His story reveals the treacherous political intrigue and conspiracy surrounding the ‘Merry Monarch’. The colonel became a spy for the king, eavesdropping on the whispers and gossip within the feverish atmosphere at court – and worked as a double-agent in the dark, stinking alleyways of London, regularly informing on those conspiring to kill Charles and return England to the austere, God-fearing republic it was under Oliver Cromwell. Politicians also employed him as a freelance agent to help destroy their rivals’ reputations.

From his headquarters in the backroom of White’s coffee house, near London’s Royal Exchange, he arrogantly declared: “It’s no matter if one lets me fall, another takes me up. I’m the best tool they have.” Shortly after his release from the Tower, a courtier saw Blood idling in the precincts of Whitehall Palace, wearing a “new suit and periwig… [and being] exceedingly pleasant and jocose. He is a tall, rough-boned man, with small legs, a pock-[marked] face with little hollow blue eyes.” This eccentric rogue, with his fraudulent army ranks and a wardrobe full of disguises, had become the greatest of all 17th-century adventurers, pursuing his self-professed aim of making “a noise in the world”. The diarist Samuel Pepys owned a copy of Blood’s own account of scores of his escapes or ‘deliverances’ from arrest, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A very stout fellow Predictably, Blood had fought on both sides during the Civil War.

The dashing royalist cavalry commander Prince Rupert recalled him as a “very stout bold fellow”, and Cromwell awarded him grants of land in Ireland in 1653 as payment for his services as a lieutenant in the parliamentary army. But after the restoration of the monarchy, he lost all his property and plotted to seize Dublin Castle, the seat of English government in Ireland, and kidnap Ormond, the lord lieutenant. The conspiracy was betrayed on the eve of the coup and he fled, only to daringly visit his wife in the Irish capital and stroll nonchalantly out through its gates under the noses of the sentries. He then lived rough in the Irish mountains under several disguises, before escaping to the Netherlands. After returning to England in the 1660s, he was recruited for a secret mission – to persuade the republican regicide Edmund Ludlow to quit his exile in Switzerland and join in a plot to overthrow the monarchy, a conspiracy backed by the Dutch government.

After apparently fighting in the failed Scottish Covenanters’ Pentland uprising of November 1666, he went to ground under the aliases ‘Dr Ayliffe’ and ‘Dr Allen’ in Romford market, east of London, practising as a physician, although he had no medical knowledge whatsoever. His son (also called Thomas) was apprenticed to an apothecary in Southwark but later became a highwayman, preying on travellers in Surrey. Blood also rescued his old roundhead comrade, Captain John Mason, from custody at an inn at Darrington, near Doncaster, in July 1667 by ambushing the military escort taking him for trial for treason and probable execution at York. Blood was badly wounded in the face and arm but escaped with Mason. A £100 reward was offered for their arrest, but Blood, now employing the alias ‘Thomas Allen’, lived quietly in Kent. On the evening of 6 December 1670, Blood (now self-promoted to colonel), with four accomplices, stopped the Duke of Ormond’s coach in St James’s Street, intending to murder him.

They planned to drag him off to the gallows at Tyburn and hang him like a common criminal. But after being pulled from his carriage, old Ormond fought back. The assailants fired their pistols at him lying on the ground – but in their panic, all missed. Was this attack mere revenge for Blood’s lost Irish estates and his penury? Or were there darker forces at play? George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham was probably behind the plot. He hated Ormond “mortally”, and their feuds at court were often violent. Perhaps this ruthless courtier had paid Blood to kill his rival. Ormond’s son, Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory certainly believed so. Seeing Buckingham standing by the king at court, he became red-faced with anger, and told him: “My Lord, I know well that you are at the bottom of this late attempt of Blood’s upon my father. Therefore I give you fair warning [that] if my father comes to a violent end by sword or pistol; if he dies by the hand of a ruffian, or by the more secret way of poison… I shall consider you the assassin.

Wherever I meet you, I shall pistol you, though you [might] stand behind the king’s chair.” Brutal stabbing Even though the government put a price of £1,000 on the heads of Blood and his comrades, he did not lie low. Early on the morning of 9 May 1671, the colonel, disguised as a parson, with his son and three confederates, arrived at the Tower of London, armed with swordsticks, daggers and pocket pistols. Their plan was to steal the crown jewels, secured in the basement of the 13th-century Martin Tower. Brutally, they stabbed Talbot Edwards, the 77-year-old assistant keeper of the jewels, and made off with the regalia. Edwards’ son Wythe, who had been in Flanders on military service, fortuitously arrived home at this very moment and found his father lying in a pool of blood on the floor. The old man staggered to his feet, ripped off his gag, and shouted: “Treason! Murder!

The crown is stolen!” Shots were fired and the colonel – along with Robert Perrot, one of his accomplices – was captured as they raced towards the Tower’s Iron Gate. Young Blood fell from his horse in nearby Gravel Lane and was apprehended. The crown was recovered, as were the sceptre and orb. The diarist John Evelyn met the colonel in Whitehall shortly after his pardon and was far from impressed: “How he ever came to be pardoned and ever received into favour, not only after this but several other exploits almost as daring, both in Ireland and here, I never could come to understand. This man not only had a daring, but a villainous, unmerciful look, a false countenance but very well spoken and dangerously insinuating.” Evelyn was unaware that Blood was on the payroll of Charles II’s government as a spy and agent, willing to undertake the more disreputable but necessary tasks that the administration could afterwards cheerfully deny any involvement with. The king, always short of money, could even have employed Blood to steal his own crown jewels.

Joseph Williamson, operational head of Charles II’s shadowy secret service (see box on page 44), afterwards claimed that the agent was worth “10 times the value [of the] crown”. Edwards, the injured keeper of the jewels, was promised £300 compensation by the king but never received it and died from the effects of his wounds two years afterwards. Blood died, aged 62, at his home in Bowling Alley, Westminster. Given his reputation for disguise and intrigue, the government had to exhume his body to dispel the widespread belief among Londoners that he had faked his own death. But the jury, made up of men who knew him, could not recognise the corpse and he was only identified by his enlarged thumb, the result of an old wound. Blood ranks high in the pantheon of true adventurers, with his madcap escapades frequently the excited talk of three kingdoms. He was an eccentric gambler who was never afraid of the odds against him, taking a reckless delight in staging an outrage purely for its own sake. Charles II's secret service The king employed an army of spies – most of them criminals and misfits – to seek out potential enemies of the state...

Charles II needed an efficient secret service to defeat the ever-present threats posed by dissident nonconformists and adherents to the republican cause. The state monopoly of a General Post Office was established in 1660 and this nationwide mail delivery system became the main weapon of Stuart counter-espionage through the regular interception, reading or copying of letters. Of course, most letters written by conspirators would not be in plain text – the risk of such vital information falling into the wrong hands was too great. Ciphers were often employed, based on the simple principle of letter or symbol substitution. Without a key for decoding, these letters appeared to be gibberish. Sir Joseph Williamson ran the Restoration spy network for 19 years. During that time he employed a team of code-breakers such as the Oxford mathematician Dr John Wallis and the German diplomat Henry Oldenburg, who translated letters in foreign languages. Sir Joseph Williamson's spy operation included skilled linguists and state-of-the-art code-breaking machines. © Bridgeman Art Library-Alamy In 1664, the king spent three hours in a late-night visit to the mail interceptors’ ‘secret room’ at Cloak Hill.

Charles watched demonstrations of various primitive mechanical machines that could open letters without trace, replicate wax seals, forge handwriting, and copy a letter (possibly by pressing dampened tissue paper against the inked handwriting) “in little more than a minute”. Years later, cipher expert Sir Samuel Morland would reminisce: “With these [machines] the king was so satisfied that he immediately put [them] into practice as they were and competent salaries appointed for the same and this practice continued with good success till the fire of London consumed both the post house and all the engines and utensils belonging to the premises.” Just as important to Charles’s intelligence gathering were informers, who comprised an army of social misfits, criminals and turncoats. They were prepared to risk their lives supplying information about the internal enemies of the state, in return for the grant of a royal pardon for past delinquencies or simple monetary gain. The penetration and reach of this ever-changing group of spies and informers was extraordinary throughout the three kingdoms, particularly so in England. No man could believe himself entirely immune from arrest for any injudicious words spoken drunkenly in a rowdy tavern, or for being seen in the company of suspected persons in the street.

Blood’s lethal weapons Two daggers carried by the crown jewels gang suggest that these were men who meant business... Among evidence recovered from Blood and his fellow desperadoes after their attempt to steal the crown jewels were a pair of thin-bladed stilettos, called ‘ballock’ or ‘dudgeon daggers’, with their sheaths. The weapons are dated 1620 and were probably made in Scotland, as they bear marks of the Edinburgh cutlers Alexander Bruce (known to be active after 1593) and Alexander Thomson, who operated from 1588. Both are traditionally associated with Colonel Blood, who may have acquired them secondhand during his reported time in Scotland during the Pentland Rebellion in 1666. The larger knife has a blade 11.4 inches (29cm) long and the smaller weapon’s blade is 9.2 inches (28.7cm) in length. The latter is specifically linked with Robert Perrot, one of Blood’s accomplices. These are fearsome weapons, designed to be tucked into the top of a riding boot and drawn quickly for lethal use.

Both daggers were deposited in the Armouries by the Royal Literary Fund in 1926. They had been bequeathed by Thomas Newton, a descendent of the scientist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton in 1807. Sir Isaac may have acquired them when he was warden (1696) and later master of the Royal Mint (1699) in the Tower of London. The larger weapon remains in the Royal Armouries at Leeds but the smaller one was declared lost in 2002. Robert Hutchinson has written six critically acclaimed books on Tudor history including Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011).

Question: What did Irish Colonel Thomas Blood attempt to steal in May 1671?
Answer: The Crown Jewels