Colonel blood biography
Colonel blood biography
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Thomas Blood
Irish-born Colonel
"Colonel Blood" redirects here. For other uses, see Colonel Blood (disambiguation).
Thomas Blood (1618 – 24 August 1680) was an Anglo-Irishofficer and self-styled colonel best known for his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671.[1] Described in an American source as a "noted bravo and desperado,"[2] he was also known for his attempt to kidnap and, later, to kill, his enemy James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond.
Early life
Sources suggest that Blood was born in County Clare, in the Kingdom of Ireland,[3] the son of a successful land-owning blacksmith of English descent, and was partly raised at Sarney, near Dunboyne, in County Meath.
He was apparently a Presbyterian.[4] His family was respectable and prosperous (by the standards of the time); his father held lands in Counties Clare, Meath and Wicklow. His grandfather was a member of the Irish Parliament, and h