ERROL, PETER, AND THOMAS
“In London, Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer better known as “Captain Blood,” was captured attempting to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
Blood, a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, was deprived of his estate in Ireland with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. In 1663, he put himself at the head of a plot to seize Dublin Castle from supporters of King Charles II, but the plot was discovered and his accomplices executed. He escaped capture. In 1671, he hatched a bizarre plan to steal the new Crown Jewels, which had been refashioned by Charles II because most of the original jewels were melted down after Charles I’s execution in 1649.
On May 9, 1671, Blood, disguised as a priest, managed to convince the Jewel House keeper to hand over his pistols. Blood’s three accomplices then emerged from the shadows, and together they forced their way into the Jewel House. However, they were caught in the act when the keeper’s son showed up unexpectedly, and an alarm went out to the Tower guard. One man shoved the Royal Orb down his breeches while Blood flattened the Crown with a mallet and tried to run off with it. The Tower guards apprehended and arrested all four of the perpetrators, and Blood was brought before the king. Charles was so impressed with Blood’s audacity that, far from punishing him, he restored his estates in Ireland and made him a member of his court with an annual pension.
Captain Blood became a colorful celebrity all across the kingdom, and when he died in 1680 his body had to be exhumed in order to persuade the public that he was actually dead.”
A Traditional History of Thomas Blood:
A Comical UK Documentary
Part One
Part Two
— Tim
Gentleman Tim
November 19, 2017 at 8:22 pm
Waa the Baron in Belfast? Or was that all Blarney?
“Several weeks ago Roamer-reader Mitchell Smyth shared some interesting details here about Hollywood actor Errol Flynn, who shot to international movie-stardom as Captain Blood in 1935.
Flynn’s father, biologist and embryologist Theodore Flynn MBE, was Professor of biology at Queen’s University from 1931 to 1948 and the Professor named a new species of sub-tropical kelpfish – Gibbonsia erroli – after his son.
Amongst some of Mitchell’s colourful anecdotes about the swashbuckler film star were references to his occasional visits to Belfast, with the qualification “the question of whether Errol Flynn ever set foot in Ireland has never been satisfactorily answered”.
Ian Rippey, Secretary of the Co Armagh Wildlife Society, reckons that Flynn definitely visited Belfast, and has information about a positive sighting. And Mr Rippey’s letter ended with an intriguing postscript: “Captain Thomas Blood…had Irish Presbyterian if not Ulster connections.” But first, Ian explained why he’s sure that Flynn came to Belfast.
“A Miss Rene Liggett of Armagh informed me a good few years ago that she remembered seeing Errol Flynn at Queen’s University, Belfast, when she was a student. I assume that she studied biology under Errol Flynn’s father…I knew Miss Liggett from when I joined the Armagh Field Naturalists Society (now the Co Armagh Wildlife Society) in 1974 until her death. I don’t know whether Miss Liggett saw Errol Flynn only once or on a number of occasions. All she said was that she had seen him…Miss Liggett died in a nursing home some years ago.”
Read more at: www.newsletter.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/famous-fictional-pirate-based-on-irish-double-agent-who-stole-crown-jewels-1-8245783…