24 Primrose Hill was popularly known afterwards for a short time as ‘Greenberry Hill’ after the names of the men executed there. Their corpses would have been suspended on the gallows for some time afterwards.
25 ‘T.S.’, The Horrid Sin of Man-catching . . ., p.20.
26 HMC ‘Fitzherbert’, pp.114–5.
27 See: Bury, A True Narrative of the Late Design of the Papists . . ., p.8; Marshall, Intelligence and Espionage . . ., p.211.
28 HMC ‘Fitzherbert’, pp.114–5.
29 HMC ‘Fitzherbert’, p.115.
30 He was canonised in 1975.
31 Oates was retried for perjury in 1685 and sentenced to be whipped through London twice, imprisoned for life and pilloried every year. At the accession of William of Orange and Mary in 1689, he was pardoned and granted an annual pension of £260. Oates died on 12 or 13 July 1705.
32 Bod. Lib. Carte MS 228, f.151. Newsletter addressed to Thomas Wharton at Winchendon, Buckinghamshire, reporting Lord Sunderland’s interview with Blood, 3 March 1679.
33 ‘Remarks . . .’, p.229 and ‘Narrative’ p.4.
34 A ‘trepan’ is a seventeenth-century noun for a person who lures or tricks another into a disadvantageous or ruinous act or position.
35 Marshall, Intelligence and Espionage . . ., p.222.
36 Dalrymple, Memoirs of Great Britain . . ., vol. 2, p.231.
37 HMC ‘Ormond’ vol. 4, pp.328–9. Hester Chapman has claimed that Blood was the chief protagonist of the plot against Buckingham, but this seems unlikely. See her Great Villiers . . ., pp.262–4.
38 Melton, ‘A Rake Reformed . . .’, HLQ, vol. 51, pp.300–1.
39 ‘Narrative’, p.28.
40 Pritchard, A Defence of His Private Life . . .’, HLQ, vol. 44, pp.164 and 168.
41 HMC ‘Ormond’, vol. 5, pp.296–7.
42 ‘Narrative’, p.18.
43 Ram Alley, later renamed Hare Place, was a place of sanctuary for debtors in the seventeenth century and a very insalubrious area.
44 More properly known as the ‘Bear at Bridgefoot’.
45 ‘Le Mar’, p.14.
46 ‘Remarks . . .’, p.231.
47 A written precept, under a magistrate’s seal, directing a constable to take a suspected felon to prison. From the Latin, meaning ‘we send’.
48 ‘Narrative’, p.10.
49 ‘Narrative’, p.12.
50 HMC ‘Ormond’, vol. 5, p.324.
51 Marshall, Intelligence and Espionage . . ., p.222.
52 CSP Domestic 1679–80, p.521.
53 London Gazette, issue 1500, 1–5 April 1680, p.2, cols. 1 and 2.
54 CSP Domestic 1679–80, p.560. Newsletter to Sir Francis Radcliffe at Dilston, Northumberland, 18 July 1680.
55 Sir William Dolben (c. 1625–94) was appointed a justice of the Court of King’s Bench on 23 October 1678. He was a man of small stature with a surprisingly loud voice and was known popularly as ‘an arrant old snarler’.
56 TNA, SP 29/414/23, f.40. Blood to James, Duke of York, 15 July 1680.
57 There was clearly some arrears in this payment.
58 TNA, SP 29/414/26, f.46. Blood to Secretary Jenkins, 18 July 1680.
59 The prison, situated in Angel Place, off Borough High Street, had been rebuilt in Henry VIII’s reign with a high brick wall enclosing a courtyard and buildings. This was demolished in 1761 after the completion of a new prison on a four-acre (1.62 hectare) site close to St George’s Fields, Southwark.
60 CSP Domestic 1679–80, p.568. Newsletter to Roger Garstell, Newcastle, 22 July 1680.
61 Bod. Lib. Rawlinson MSS A.185 (Pepys Papers), ff.473r–475 – Copy of notes from Blood’s pocketbook.
62 Bod. Lib. A.185, f.474r.
63 Bod. Lib. A.185, ff. 473r–474r, entries 2, 5, 6, 16, 18, 21, 33, 39–43, 47–52, 54, 59, 67. The Bull’s Head tavern was located between Maiden Lane and the Strand. It was pulled down in 1897 and replaced by the Nell Gwynne public house.
64 Bod Lib. A.185, f.474r.
65 Bod. Lib. A.185, f.473v–474r, entries 4–7, 10, 15–16, 21. See also Marshall, Intelligence and Espionage . . ., pp.198, 202, 204.
66 TNA, PROB/11/364/248. Probate was granted on 4 November 1680.
67 TNA PROB 4/5301. Inventory of Thomas Blood of the parish of St Margaret, Westminster, 7 May 1681.
68 ‘Remarks . . .’, pp.233–4.
69 This was built in 1638–42 as a chapel of ease and burial ground for St Margaret’s church, Westminster. It was demolished and replaced in the nineteenth century by a new church, Christchurch. This was destroyed by bombing in the 1941 London Blitz and the burial ground was converted into a public garden in 1950 at the junction of Broadway and Victoria Street and designated a conservation area in 1985. A monument commemorating the Suffragette Movement was erected in the gardens in 1970.
70 ‘Remarks . . .’, p.234.
71 Chappell, Roxburghe Ballads, Ballad Society, vol. 6, pp.787–8.
72 ‘Remarks . . .’, pp.235 and 227.
EPILOGUE
1 TNA, SP 29/417/207, f.443.
2 Buckingham founded the Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire in 1668, reputedly the oldest hunt in England.
3 ‘HoC Jnls’, vol. 10, p.280, 6 November 1678
4 Firth (rev. Blair Warden), ‘Edmund Ludlow’, ODNB, vol. 34, p.717.
5 Bod. Lib. MS English Letters C.53, f.131. P. Maddocks to Sir Robert Southwell, 14 November 1684.
6 Diana, Princess of Wales, was one of his descendants.
7 Marshall, ‘Henry Bennet, first earl of Arlington’, ODNB, vol. 5, pp.101–5.
8 Kenyon, The Popish Plot, p.155.
9 Marshall, ‘Sir Joseph Williamson’, ODNB, vol. 59, p.356.
10 The anniversary of the accession of Protestant Elizabeth I to the throne of England in 1558 on the death of her Catholic half-sister Mary I.
11 CSP Domestic January–June 1683, pp.66 and 104.
12 Now known as Red Cross Way.
13 CSP Domestic January–June 1683, pp.382–3.
14 See: Peter Earle, Monmouth’s Rebels . . ., p.32; BL Lansdowne MS 1,152, vol. 1, f.238v – Nicholas Cooke and Henry Lavening to Sir Bourchier Wrey, MP for Devon, reporting the capture of Perrot, 30 July, 1685.
15 HMC ‘Ormond’, vol. 2, p.253.
16 See: CSP Domestic 1671, p.267; CSP Domestic 1670, p.174 and Marshall, Intelligence and Espionage . . ., p.140.
17 A town on the border of England and Scotland.
18 Spain, ‘Martin Beckman’, ODNB, vol. 6, pp.740–3.
19 TNA, SP 29/417/207, f.443.
20 A pole arm, with an axe head below the spear-like point.
21 TNA, SP 29/417/207 f.445.
22 CSP Domestic January–June 1683, p.66.
23 They were both serving in the navy in 1677. See BL Add. MSS, 10,115, f.73.
24 The warship was launched as the fifty-gun third-rate frigate Speaker in the Commonwealth navy in 1650 and renamed Mary after the Restoration. In 1677 she was refitted as a sixty-two-gun ship and was rebuilt in 1688. Mary was lost on the Goodwin Sands shoals, off the coast of Kent, during the Great Storm of 1703.
25 Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke’s Irish Family Records, p.142
26 TNA, PROB 4/54/476. Dated November 1688.
27 TNA, PROB 11/360/467, ff.304–5. Will of Edmund Blood.
28 CSP Domestic March 1676–February 1677, p.77.
29 CSP Domestic 1678, p.241.
30 Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke’s Irish Family Records, p.143. Today, the battle is commemorated in Northern Ireland on 12 July, the day after its date under the ‘New Style’ Gregorian calendar, adopted in Britain in 1752.
31 CSP Domestic William III 1696, p.33. Warrant for Lieutenant Colonel Holcroft Blood to be second engineer in place of Captain Thomas Philips deceased. Kensington, 1 February 1696.
32 Porter, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, vol. 1, p.111.
33 Spain, ‘Holcroft Blood’, ODNB, vol. 6, pp.268–70.
34 Holcroft Blood
junior died in 1724.
35 TNA, PROB 11/504/89, will of Holcroft Blood.
36 Thomas Blood had two children, according to Edmund Blood’s will (TNA SP PROB 11/360/467, f.304); presumably one died young.
37 NAI MS 12,816, f.20, calls him ‘Tobias Baines’.
38 Lisburne (1647–91) also commanded an English regiment during the Williamite wars in Ireland and was killed outright by a cannonball at the siege of Limerick in September 1691.
39 NAIMS 12,816, f.21.
40 NAIMS 12,816, ff.31–2.
41 TNA, WORK 14/2/1. Paper on the adaption of the Wakefield Tower as a new jewel house and the provision of glass cases to display the regalia, 1852–69.
42 Impey and Parnell, The Tower of London . . ., pp.108–10.
43 Literally, ‘St Peter in chains’, a reference to the prisoners held in the Tower of London.
44 The burial register entry reads: ‘1674: Mr Edwards ye crown keeper, buryed October ye second’.
45 TNA, War Office papers WO 94/58/24, f.1. Letter from a Mr Wray Hunt, of Wargrave, Berkshire, 3 December 1936.
46 Bell, Notices of the Historic Persons buried in . . . St Peter ad Vincula . . ., p.37. Lord de Ros, perhaps modestly, provides a different version of the way Edwards’ gravestone was rescued. It was recognised by a Colonel Wyndham ‘in a heap of rubbish and by the [Tower of London] constable’s order fixed against in safety against the south wall. In one of those reckless reparations which so often were allowed in the Tower, the masons employed in repairing the chapel floor threw this tablet aside but it was luckily observed’ (de Ros, Memorials of the Tower of London, p.202).
Bibliography
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Note: All dates employ the ‘Old Style’ Julian calendar, in use before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, under the Calendar Act 1752.
Add. MS. Additional Manuscript
bart baronet
BL British Library
Bod. Lib. Bodleian Library
c. circa
Co. County
col. column
CS Camden Society
CSP Calendar of State Papers
ed. edited
edn. edition
EHR English Historical Review
fn. footnote
HJ Historical Journal
HLQ Huntington Library Quarterly
HMC Historical Manuscripts Commission
HoC House of Commons
HoL House of Lords
HR Historical Research
IMC Irish Manuscripts Commission
Jnl Journal
jp Justice of the Peace
MP Member of Parliament
MS(S) Manuscript(s)
NAI National Archives of Ireland
N&Q Notes & Queries
no. number
ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
pt. part
r recto
rev. revised
RCHM Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
s. series
SAL Society of Antiquaries of London
TNA The National Archives
Trans Transactions
TRHS Trans. Royal Historical Society
transl. translated
V verso, versus
VCH Victoria County History
Primary sources
MANUSCRIPT
Bodleian Library Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG
Carte MSS
32 f.202r – Examination of James Milligan of Antrim by the earl of Mount-Alexander and William Leslie esq. about the concealment of Thomas Blood, alias Thomas Pilsen, in Antrim; 24 August 1663.
f.210 – Letter from Thomas Blood to John Chamberlin, reporting that he hoped to recruit disbanded cavalry troopers but he had no confidence in the ‘Scots . . . they stick so to a King’s interest, though I have laboured with some of them of a small sort to come along with me, I can prevail little – yet, I doubt not to pick up some’; ?August 1663.
f.211 – Instructions for the bearer of above letter, listing persons who can give information and assistance, undated but endorsed: ‘copied 14 August 1663 at Wicklow’.
ff.384–5 – Order in Council by Ormond regulating military pay; Dublin, 4 May 1663.
f.388 – Order in Council by Ormond directing the return of arms to his majesty’s military stores in Dublin and various other cities; Dublin, 4 May 1663.
f.446 – Sir Arthur Forbes to Ormond, reporting evidence to expect ‘some sudden design’ against the State and the apprehension of the people; Newton, Co. Meath, 22 May 1663.
f.460 – Robert Green to Colonel James Walsh, reporting that ‘disguised men have been passing about these parts’ and the night meetings held before the discovery of the Dublin Castle plot; Dublin, 25 May 1663.
f.538r – Jared Hancock to Ormond, reporting the departure of a ship from Wexford, belonging to Samuel Abernattin, ‘a known fanatic’, with several passengers on board; Wexford, 2 June 1663.
f.550 – Ormond to Bennet; Stephen Charnock, ‘a pretended minister, and chaplain to Henry Cromwell, is deeply involved in the guilt of the late conspiracies here’ and was lodged in London at Robert Littlebury’s house ‘at the sign of the Unicorn in Little Britain’; Dublin, 10 June 1663.
f.553 – Eglinton to Ormond with information on the conspirators, Lieutenant Colonel Moore and Cornet Blood; 11 June 1663.
ff.589–90 – Certificate by the borough masters and governors concerning testimony given by Jacob ‘Borstius’ [Vorstius] and others about the residence in that city of Colonel Gilbert Carr; Rotterdam, 10/20 June 1663.
f.602 – Patrick Darcy, learned counsel, to Ormond, submitting lists of the members of the grand juries of the city and county of Dublin but fearing ‘not many of them [are] fit for the business now to be agitated’; 22 June 1663.
f.604r – Patrick Darcy to Ormond, passing on information that Sir John Ponsonby ‘has said openly . . . that at the trial of the prisoners [the government] would find themselves deceived’. Endorsed: ‘For your grace only’; 22 June 1663.
f.605v – List of members of grand juries of the city of Dublin and Co. Dublin; 22 June 1663.
f.608 – J[ohn] T[homson?] to William Jackson reporting that much mischief was being done here by unruly persons ‘spoiling people’s houses in the night, under [the] pretence of taking prisoners for being [in] on the plot’; Loughbrickland, Co. Down, 29 June 1663.
f.645 – Petition of Major Thomas Barrington to Ormond, providing details of his service and that of Colonel Edward Warren in the uncovering of the late treasonable plot and seeking clemency in granting Warren’s life and estate; [June] 1663.
f.655 – Schedule of ministers’ names that are taken and sent to Carrickfergus and Carlingford relating to the late treasonous plots in Ireland; [June 1663].
f.666 – Opinion of Patrick Darcy, learned counsel, upon a point of law submitted by the Irish Government, about the penalties faced by the Dublin Castle conspirators; Dublin, 23 May 1663.
f.668 – Patrick Darcy to Ormond; Boar’s Head, Dublin, 4 June 1663.
f.669 – The case against conspirators to ‘surprise His Majesty’s Castle of Dublin in respect of the penalties by law incurred thereby with questions thereon stated to learned counsel’; [?1 June] 1663.
f.669 – Further opinion of Patrick Darcy; 23 June 1663.
f.673 – Patrick Darcy to Ormond about the progress of the trial of the conspirators; Dublin, 3 July 1663.
f.686 – Information from Lieutenant Richard Thompson about his knowledge of the late conspiracy in which he ‘was unhappily involved’; written from Dublin Castle prison, 5 July 1663.
f.688 – Lieutenant Richard Thompson to Ormond. Please ‘accept these last words of a dying man . . . [I] was drawn in by Mr. Blood into the plot for which great sin I beg pardon’; Dublin Castle 5 July 1663.
ff.691–4 – Lord Santry’s speech when passing judgment upon Alexander Jephson and others; Dublin, 7 July 1663.
33 f.18 – E[dward]
Bagot, a former soldier, to Ormond, warning of a plot against the Lord Lieutenant’s life; Blithfield, Staffordshire, 2 August 1663.
f.90 – Mrs. Charity Staples to Ormond. Prostrating herself at his feet, ‘knowing scarcely how to syllable or articulate her anguish that my son [Major Alexander Staples of Londonderry] should have his hand in treason’ . . . [I] beseech [Ormond] to have a regard to his tenderness of years and to the frailty of a nature beguiled by the subtlety of some grand impostor’; ?Ballysheskin, 28 August 1663.
34 f.674r – ‘Advice of Incidents in Ireland’ sent anonymously to Ormond and by him endorsed with the initials ‘PA.’, April 1663.
35 f.52r – Notes on persons suspected of complicity in seditious plots in Ireland ‘given by R.A.’ apparently to Sir George Lane; 6 September 1666.
f.54r – ‘Persons lately going into Ireland’.
f.54v – Arlington to Sir George Lane: Blood reported in Lancashire and came near to arrest after Fire of London; Westminster, 6 September 1666.
f.128r – William Leving, government spy, to Ormond, providing information about [Thomas] Blood and other conspirators who had fled Ireland; 15 November 1666.
f.146v – List of Persons declared rebels [in Scotland] by proclamation; 4 December 1666.
39 f.27 – The king to Ormond; the office of clerk of the crown and peace in Co. Clare, once held by Thomas Blood and ‘passed in his son Holcroft Blood’s name’ is now void because of Blood’s absence from Ireland; Whitehall, 12 March 1679.
43 f.192 – The king to Ormond; Colonel Shapcott, now in custody in Ireland upon charges of complicity in the late conspiracy, is to be taken to England for further interrogation; Whitehall, [day left blank] June 1663.
f.505 – The king to Ormond; Captain Toby Barnes to have the lease of towns and lands in Sarney, Beatown and Foylestown in the barony of Dunboyne and Co. Meath with certain unprofitable mountain-lands in Co. Wicklow, formerly belonging to Thomas Blood, now attainted of high treason; Whitehall, 11 April 1666.
44 ff.708–9 – Ormond’s speech to the Irish House of Commons; 9 March 1663.
The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood Page 33