The Criminal Who Went After England’s Crown Jewels
Colonel Thomas Blood (1618 – 1680) was an Anglo-Irish officer from County Clare, who gained a reputation as one of England’s most audacious rogues. Among his deeds – or misdeeds – were his attempts to kidnap, and when that did not work out too well, to kill, the governor of Ireland. He is best known however for a criminal exploit that made him famous as “The Man Who Stole the Crown Jewels”. There was little in his background to indicate his turn to crime.
The son of a prosperous blacksmith, the future Colonel Blood came from a good family. Indeed, his grandfather lived in a castle and was a Member of Parliament. Blood’s career as a rogue started with the English Civil War, when he left Ireland for England in 1642, to fight for King Charles I. However, when it became clear that the royalists were bound to lose, Blood abandoned Charles and switched to the king’s Parliamentarian enemies. He was well rewarded – but only for a while.