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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
Thomas Blood was born in Sarney, county Meath in Ireland around the year 1618. The circumstances surrounding his early life are obscure but his father was said to have been a blacksmith and ironworker of ‘no inferior credit’. Blood's first real appearance in the historical record occurs during the survey taken in Ireland in the period 1654–6. In this he is listed as a protestant who had owned some 220 acres of land at Sarney since at least 1640. In between these dates, however, Blood had evidently undertaken some sort of military service. The evidence concerning this military service is both slight and contradictory and there is at least the possibility that his later claims about an army career were partly bogus, or certainly inflated to suit his particular company.
1 Remarks on the Life and Death of the Famed Mr. Blood & by R.H. (London, 1680)Google Scholar, [Henceforth cited as Remarks], in The Somers Tracts, 2nd collection, (1748–52), III, 219.
2 Irish MSS Commission: The Civil Survey A.D. 1654–1656, County of Meath, ed. Simmington, R. C. (Dublin, 1940), v, 126Google Scholar.
3 It may be noted, however, that in 1650 he married a young Lancashire gentlewoman, Mary Holcroft. She was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel John Holcroft of Holcroft Hall and it is unlikely that an ordinary non-commissioned officer or soldier could have made such a match. For Blood's marriage see Johnson-Kaye, W. and the Rev. Wittenburg-Kaye, E. W. (eds.), Lancashire Parish Register Society, The Register of Newchurch in the Township of Culcheth: Christenings, Weddings and Burials (Cambridge, 1905), pp. 15, 217Google Scholar.
4 British Library, (hereafter B.L.) Add[itional] MSS 36916, fo. 233.
5 See Peacock, E., The army lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers (2nd edn, London, 1874)Google Scholar; Tibbutt, H. G., ‘The life and letters of Sir Lewis Dyve, 1599–1669’, Bedfordshire Record Society, XXVII (1948)Google Scholar; Newman, P. R., Royalist officers in England and Wales 1642–1660: a biographical dictionary (New York, 1981)Google Scholar. A volume which lists some 1,629 Royalist Field Officers, and Blood is not amongst them.
6 List of Officers Claiming to the Sixty Thousand Pounds &c Granted by His Sacred Majesty for the Relief of the Truly Loyal and Indigent Party (London, 1663), p. 39Google Scholar.
7 Historical Manuscripts Commission, 6th Report, p. 370.
8 It is known that Blood also claimed to have performed several pieces of good service and to have been at Oxford with the king. C[alender] of S[tate/ P[apers/ D[omestic], 1671–72, p. 373.
9 His eldest son was baptized in Lancashire in 1651, see Kaye and Kaye, Register, 15.
10 For these see Moody, T. et al. (eds.), A new history of Ireland, vol. 111: Early modern Ireland 1534–1691 (Oxford, 1976), pp. 424Google Scholar et passim.
11 C. S. P. Ireland 1663–65, pp. 111, 265–9. For a more detailed history of the Dublin Plot see Carte, T., A History of the Life of James, Duke of Ormonde (1736), 11Google Scholar, 261 et passim, or Greaves, R., Deliver us from evil: the radical underground in Britain 1660–1663 (Oxford, 1986)Google Scholar, chapter v.
12 For Blood's movements during this period see Bodleian Library Rawlinson MS A (185) Pepys papers, vol. XVI, no. 162, fos. 473–5.
13 As will be seen below a great deal of planning was taking place at this time. See also Public Record Office (P.R.O.), S.P. 84 (Holland), vol. 168, fo. 48 and below.
14 In Yorkshire with his associate Captain John Lockyer in one case. For Lockyer see Greaves, R. L. and Zaller, R. (eds.), Biographical dictionary of British radicals (3 vols., Brighton, 1983), II, 198–9Google Scholar.
15 P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 121, fo. 131; Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 474 also confirms this.
16 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 474.
17 The Williamson address book P.R.O., S.P. 9 vol. 32, fo. 213 and below. For Blood's movements see Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185) fo. 473V, entries 38–44 also Bod. Lib. MS Eng. Hist, c.487: Edmund Ludlow ‘A Voyce from the Watchtower’, pp. 1111, 1114, 1265 and below, [henceforth cited as Ludlow, ‘Voyce’].
18 The agent Edward Riggs for example, see Williamson's Index, P.R.O., S.P. 9, vol. 26, fo. 131.
19 Ludlow, ‘Voyce’, p. 1265.
20 quoted, Blood in A Modest Vindication of Oliver Cromwell from the Unjust Accusation of Lieut.-Gen. Ludlow (1698), p. 2Google Scholar.
21 Ibid.
22 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473v.
23 For the rising, Cowan, I. B., The Scottish Covenanters, 1660–1688 (London, 1976)Google Scholar. For Blood in Lancashire and Westmorland see P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 189, fo. 20; C.S.P.D: 1667, pp. 1–2.
24 Remarks, 223.
25 H.M.C. 8th Report, pt. I, appendix, p. 155.
26 Remarks, 223.
27 I am indebted to Professor G. S. Holmes for noticing this point. As regards Blood's medical experience it may be significant that one of the men suspected of involvement in the attack on Ormonde was Samuel Holmes, who, it is stated in the evidence collected after that attack, had been ‘a surgeon in Goffe's regiment & then in Maj[or] Gen[eral] Briens regiment’ [House of Lords Record Office, Main Papers, H.L., 352 (e6) fo. 76v]. Holmes was also the man to whom Blood apprenticed his son.
28 Browning, A. (ed.), Memoirs of Sir John Reresby (Glasgow, 1936), pp. 69–70Google Scholar.
29 Ludlow, , ‘Voyce’, p. 1265Google Scholar.
30 H.M.C., 8th Report, p. 155; T. Carte, Ormonde, II, 421.
31 C.S.P.D., 1667, p. 488, for a report of Blood's demise.
32 H.M.C., 8th Report, p. 155.
33 North, R., The lives of the Norths, ed. Jessop, A. (London, 1896), I, 68Google Scholar. Also Earl, Edward Hyde of Clarendon, , The history of the rebellion and Civil Wars in England…Also his life (Oxford, 1843), pp. 1197–1201, 1231Google Scholar.
34 Carte, T., Ormonde, II, 424Google Scholar.
35 Haley, K. H. D., The first Earl of Shaftesbury (Oxford, 1968), p. 188Google Scholar.
36 See McGuire, J. I., ‘Why was Ormonde dismissed in 1669?’, Irish Historical Studies, XVIII, (1973), 295–312Google Scholar, and Beckett, J. C., ‘The Irish Vice-Royalty in the Restoration period’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser., X (1970), 53–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
37 See for example Carte, T., Ormonde, II, 425Google Scholar et passim. See also House of Lords Records Office, Main Papers, H.L., 352 (g6). This is a letter from Blood, confirmed by his distinctive hand, using an alias of Allen, to Mrs Mary Hunt, whom the present author suspects is Blood's wife also using an alias. It is dated 17 November 1670 and notes ‘wee thinke about the beginning of ye weeke if god giue an opportunity to signe the agreement…’ This leads to speculation about who he was to sign the agreement with. Could it have been Buckingham perhaps?
38 For the actual events see Carte, T., Ormonde, II, 420–2Google Scholar; Remarks, 226; H.M.C., 8th Report, pp. 154–6.
39 H.M.C., 8th Report, pp. 154–6.
40 C.S.P.D. 1670, p. 567.
41 Pepys, S., Diary, ed. Latham, R. and Matthews, W. (11 vols., London, 1970–1983), IX, 172Google Scholar.
48 B. L. Harl. MSS 6859, fos. 1–17, ‘Sir Gilbert Talbot's narrative of Blood's attempt on the Crown’, p. 1.
43 This was William Smith, a fifth monarchist and a known accomplice of Blood's. He was caught in 1678 and Blood interrogated him for the government; see C.S.P.D. 1678, pp. 300–1.
44 Perrot later fought at Sedgemoor and afterwards was interrogated by James II and his Council before being executed. See B. L. Lansdowne MSS 1152, vol. 1, fo. 238.
45 B. L. Harl. MSS 6859, p. 2.
46 Remarks, 228.
47 B. L. Harl. MSS 6859, p. 5.
48 For all the events see B. L. Harl. MSS 6859, pp. 1–17; Remarks, 227, 229; Carte, T., Ormonde, II, 422Google Scholar; C.S.P.D. 1671, pp. 225, 237, 244, 247, 300, 4.13; H.M.C., 6th Report, p. 370; B.L. Add. MSS 36916, fo. 223; P.R.O., S.P. 104, vol. 176. Committee of Foreign Affairs Journal, fo. 299.
49 For this suggestion see Burghclere, Lady, The life of James, first duke of Ormonde, 1610–1688 (2 vols., London, 1912), II, 190–1Google Scholar.
50 Carte, T., Ormonde, II 423Google Scholar; C.S.P. Venetian, 1671–2, p. 49.
51 Carte, T., Ormonde, II 422–3Google Scholar; H.M.C., 4th Report, p. 370. Blood's motives for the attempt on the jewels are dealt with below.
52 It is from this period that we must date the forged document in P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 290, fo. 11, dated 19 May 1671, which led W. C. Abbott, amongst others, astray. This document, not in Blood's hand, accuses two well-known politicians and officials of the government of complicity in the attempt on the Crown Jewels. Williamson endorsed it ‘a foolish letter’. I cannot agree with F. Blackburne-Daniels' view (in C.S.P.D. 1671–72, p. xix), that it was merely a ‘joke’. The linking of Osborne and Littleton is curious for both were engaged in a political battle at the time over the joint position of treasurer to the navy. In the summer of 1671 Osborne accused Littleton of misappropriation of funds. It is possible that this letter was part of the political in-fighting of the period. Andrew Browning has noted that there was a campaign to dismiss both men and replace their post with a lesser office. An association with Blood could have helped neither of them at this time. See Browning, A., Thomas Osborne earl of Danby and duke of Leeds, 1632–1712 (3 vols., Glasgow, 1951), I, 84–7Google Scholar.
53 See Arlington's statement in Brown, T., Miscellanea Aulica (1702), p. 66Google Scholar.
54 Ludlow, , ‘Voyce’, p. 1265Google Scholar.
55 C.S.P.D. 1671, p. 385. Also released at this time was Perrot. Thomas Blood junior remained in the Tower for a time, perhaps as insurance against his father's activities. For Blood's apology to Ormonde see Bod. Lib. Carte MS, 69, fo. 164, and for Ormonde's opinion of the situation see Bod. Lib. Carte MS, 69, fo. 69.
56 C.S.P.D. 1671, p. 421; Carte, T., Ormonde, II, 423Google Scholar.
57 C.S.P.D. 1671–72, p. 9.
58 H.M.C., 6th Report, p. 370; Carte, T., Ormonde, II 424Google Scholar.
59 P.R.O., S.P. For Entry Book 104, vol. 176 (Committee of Foreign Affairs Journal), fo.315.
60 Several notable ex-Commonwealthsmen and Cromwellian exiles were persuaded by Blood to return to England, most notably Thomas Kelsey. On 12 Nov. 1671 Thomas Jones, Nicholas (sic) Lockyer, Daniel Carey, Robert Boulter, John Knight, Thomas Geeling and Thomas Frenchfield were all pardoned by the king for various misdemeanours committed between 24 June 1660 and 12 Nov. 1671. All were active conspirators and the evidence is that Blood persuaded them to come in [C.S.P.D. 1671, p. 565].
61 Evelyn, J., Diary, ed. de Beer, E. S. (6 vols., Oxford, 1955), III, 576 and n.9Google Scholar.
62 P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 294, fo. 139.
63 For Blood's work on the Declaration of Indulgence see Lyon-Turner, G., Original records of early non-conformity under persecution and indulgence (3 vols., London, 1914)Google Scholar and Bate, F., The Declaration of Indulgence 1672: a study in the rise of organized dissent (London, 1908)Google Scholar. Also for an example of Blood's protection of certain dissenters see Pope, W., The life of Seth lord bishop of Salisbury (Oxford, 1961)Google Scholar.
64 One correspondent noted that Blood ‘detained the personal licences for me and Mr. Kitely till you send him word of the money’. C.S.P.D. 1671–72, p. 589.
65 For Blood's intelligence activities see: unsigned naval intelligence 14 March 1672, P.R.O., S.P. 84 (Holland), vol. 188, fo. 125; a further trip to Holland, P.R.O., S.P. 84, vol. 195, fos. 24, 52; for a possible sighting in Flanders in c. August 1673 see P.R.O., S.P. 77 (Flanders), vol. 43, fo. 18. For his activities in England see P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 317, fo. 94; P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 332, fo. 68; P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 333, fo. 181. For Blood's pension of £100 as a spy see P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 366, fo. 25.
66 Lillywhite, B., London coffee houses (London, 1963), p. 639Google Scholar.
67 C.S.P.D., 1671–72, p. 9.
68 For these connexions see below.
69 C.S.P.D., 1671–72, p. 46.
70 See Remarks, 229; The Narrative of Colonel Thomas Blood Concerning the Design Reported to be Lately Laid Against the Life and Honour of…George, Duke of Buckingham &c. (1680), p. 4.
71 Ibid.
72 For SirWaller, William see History of parliament: the house of commons 1660–1690, ed. Henning, B. D. (3 vols., London, 1983), III, 262–4Google Scholar.
73 The Narrative, 7.
74 Remarks, 231.
75 C.S.P.D., 1679–80, p. 569.
76 Dalrymple, J., Memoirs of Great Britain (2 vols., London, 1773), II, 231Google Scholar; see also Chapman, H. W., Great Villiers, a study of George Villiers, second duke of Buckingham, 1627–1687 (London, 1949). PP. 262–4Google Scholar.
77 Coddan's information to Waller 22 Jan. 1680 (Shaftesbury papers), P.R.O., 30/24/6A, fo. 350.
78 See C.S.P.D., 1682, pp. 47–8, also C.S.P.D., 1690–91, p. 458 and Calendar of Treasury Books, 1685, pt. I, pp. 116, 149. I am indebted to Dr P. A. Hopkins for these references.
79 Blood to the duke of York P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 414, fo. 23, also Blood to Sir Leoline Jenkins, P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 414, fo. 26. See also Charles Blood to the duke of York, P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 417, fo. 207 (I). Thomas Blood and James also had correspondence in 1678 concerning two ensigns' places for his sons Charles and William in the army. He mentions also that his other two sons, presumably Thomas and Holcroft, were in the navy. See B. L. Add. MSS. 10115, fo. 73.
80 The process can be traced in C.S.P.D., 1679–80, pp. 560–8.
81 He made his will on 21 Aug. 1680, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, PROB. 11, 364, fo. 139.
82 Remarks, 234.
83 Foot, M. R. D., S.O.E. in France (London, 1966 edn), p. 449Google Scholar.
84 Possibly this was Richard Halliwell as the pamphlet is signed R. H.; however, this cannot be confirmed.
85 H.M.C., 6th Report, p. 370.
86 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473.
87 There are further notes in the document which appear to refer to initial preparations for the attack on Ormonde and then to preparations for the raid on the Jewels.
88 See Ludlow, , ‘Voyce’, p. 1111Google Scholar and Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473V.
89 John Phelps: Clerk to the High Court of Justice, and regicide. He fled to Switzerland in 1660 but also went to the Netherlands in the years up to and including 1666.
90 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473V (no. 39).
91 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473V (nos. 38 an d 44).
92 Ludlow, , ‘Voyce’, pp. 1111, 1114, 1265Google Scholar.
93 Ibid. p. 1114.
94 Ibid. p. 1265.
95 It has been pointed out that Ludlow's decision was reached after ‘much heart-searching’; as well as the fact that he thought that God did not appear to be smiling on the venture. See A Voyce from the Watch Tower Part Five: 1660–1662, Worden, A. B. (ed.), Camden Society, 4th ser., XXI (London, 1978), 12–13Google Scholar.
96 P.R.O., S.P. 84 (Holland), vol. 180, fo. 62.
97 For further details on this incident see the forthcoming thesis by the present author, ‘Sir Joseph Williamson and the development of the government intelligence system in Restoration England, 1660–80’ (University of Lancaster Ph.D.)Google Scholar.
98 Ludlow, , ‘Voyce’, p. 1265Google Scholar.
99 In January 1663 Archibald Johnston of Warriston was taken at Rouen and later sent to Scotland where he was tried and executed in May 1663.
100 These documents are P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 140, fo. 93 (dated Aug. 1665 on the document and Dec. 1665 in the Calendar); P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 173, fo. 131 (undated but placed in the Calendar as Sept. 1666). In fact both documents date from the period after 1671.
101 Abbott, W. C., Colonel Thomas Blood: Crown stealer (London, 1911), p. 123Google Scholar.
102 See note 52.
103 Petherick, M., Restoration rogues (London, 1951), p. 17Google Scholar.
104 Turner, G. Lyon, Original documents, III, 218–45Google Scholar.
105 Both of these documents are genuine and not forged. Although unsigned they are both in Blood's distinctive hand. Both appear to be related by the inclusion of Jonathan Jennings. Another document [C.S.P.D., 1666–67, pp. 427–8], shows that Jennings was committed to Aylesbury gaol sometime during 1666 and seems to have fallen foul of the Conventicle Act of 1664. In Dec. 1671 Blood was agitating to have Jennings' ‘pardon perfected’ [P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 295, fo. 2] and the man himself was given a licence under the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672. See C.S.P.D., 1672, p. 400. The general tenor of the evidence therefore suggests that these two documents should be placed in the period after 1671, and thus do not provide any information about Blood's status in regard to the government in 1666.
106 For example, John Thurloe is included and he died in 1668.
107 P.R.O., S.P. 9, vol. 32, fo. 213.
108 It was also used by the spy Colonel Joseph Bamfield when he wrote to Arlington [C.S.P.D., 1663–64, p. 392, 465]. This is not the place to explore the actual working relationship between Williamson and Arlington, but it is sufficient to say that although agents may have written to Arlington the correspondence went through Williamson.
109 For Williamson's own natural caution see note 18.
110 C.S.P.D., 1675–76, p. 34.
111 This was Colonel Joseph Bamfield.
112 In 1676 Blood was reported to be attending a presbyterian gathering in Westminster under one Mr Cotton [H.M.C. MSS of the Duke of Leeds, p. 15]. It may also be noted that one of the witnesses brought in after the attack on Ormonde regarded Thomas Blood junior as a presbyterian. H.M.C, 8th Report, pt. 1, app., p. 155.
113 It appears the previous biographers never examined this document. Thus this paper is the first to make use of what is in my view one of the most crucial personal documents left by Blood.
114 For discussions of providence in seventeenth-century thought see Thomas, K., Religion and the decline of magic (London, 1971)Google Scholar, chapter IV; Worden, B., ‘Providence and politics in Cromwellian England’, Past and Present, CIX (1985), 55–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Donogan, B., ‘Providence, chance and explanation: some paradoxical aspects of Puritan views of causation’, The Journal of Religious History, XI (1980–1981), 385–403Google Scholar; Seaver, P., Wallingtoris world: a Puritan artisan in seventeenth-century London (Stanford, 1985)Google Scholar.
115 Donogan, , ‘Providence’, 386Google Scholar.
116 Seth, R., Spies at work (London, 1954), p. 37Google Scholar.
117 Though they will often claim ideals, more mundane impulses play a part.
118 Samuel Jeake quoted in Fletcher, A., A county community in peace and war…Sussex, 1600–1660 (London, 1975), p. 61Google Scholar.
119 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473V.
120 Ibid. fo. 474V.
121 Remarks, 219.
122 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 473V. Of course the document itself is a product of self-examination from around the period 1669–70.
123 Ibid. fo. 474 [entries to, 15, 16].
124 P.R.O., S.P. 29, vol. 294, fo. 139 [Notes by Williamson].
125 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MS A (185), fo. 474.
126 Thomas Blood junior's activities are detailed in H.M.C., 8th Report, pt. 1, pp. 154–6, where we find the following story. Blood junior, alias Hunt, had been set up as an apprentice around 1667 in an apothecary's shop run by ‘one Holmes, a Scotch apothecary’. But he left after about six months to set up on his own in Romford as a grocer, druggist or mercer, the witnesses were not sure on this point. In any case he seems quickly to have fallen into evil ways after leaving Holmes. The latter describes him as leading ‘a debauched life’ and his father was evidently unimpressed with his eldest son's ‘wickedness’. Blood junior was also in debt. This seems to have led to an assault with intent to rob one John Constable in 1670. It led to his conviction on 4 July 1670 at Guildford before Chief Justice Keeling and Judge Morton. Blood junior, under his alias of Hunt, was fined 100 marks and imprisoned in the Marshalsea. He remained there until Aug. 1670 when his father found two sureties for him and he was released on good behaviour for seven years. Thomas Blood, senior soon had his eldest son involved in the attack on Ormonde and the raid on the Crown Jewels. His movements after his release from the Tower are less certain. He appears to have served in the navy around 1678. See B.L. Add MSS 10115, fo. 73. He also, at some point, married a girl called Frances and there were children. But it appears from his father's will that Thomas Blood junior was dead by 1680. For the will see note 81.
127 Ludlow, , ‘Voyce’, p. 1265Google Scholar.
128 Ibid, and H.M.C., 8th Report, pt. 1, p. 159.
129 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MSS A (185), fo. 475.
130 Lord Cowper quoted in Burn, M., The debatable land: a study of the motives of spies (London, 1970), p. 233Google Scholar.
131 Remarks, 227.
132 Ibid. 227.