<P> 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 . </P> <P> Sources suggest that Blood was born in 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 County Meath . He was apparently a 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 . </P>

Who stole the crown jewels from the tower of london