Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: County Clare, Ireland
Surname/tag: Blood, Bloud, Bludd

Contents 1 Sources for Edmund Blood of County Clare 1.1 Original Sources or Derivative Sources Providing Primary Evidence 1.2 Derivative Sources (Published) 1.3 Derivative Sources (Unpublished) 1.4 Sources

Sources for Edmund Blood of County Clare

Original Sources or Derivative Sources Providing Primary Evidence

There are four items of primary evidence that inform us about Edmund Blood, but two are particularly significant:

1. The first is from the compiled genealogical notes, pedigrees, and family histories of the Irish Bloods, held at the National Library of Ireland and labelled Manuscript (Ms) 12,816.^[1] The information in Ms 12,816 is from various people and was compiled over a period of just over 100 years, from 1791 to 1899, when the Preface of Ms 12,816 was written. On page 29, there is a handwritten extract from the Journals of the Irish House of Commons referring to the Irish general election held in Apr 1613. This entry reads, "King James the 1st -- April 1613. A General Election of all Ireland was ordered, and took place in the above month, and on the 18th of May following a Parliament was holden at the Castle of Dublin. The following gentlemen were returned for the County of Clare & Borough. County: Daniel O'Brien, knight, brother of the Earl Thomond.^[2] Bertius Chanchye,^[3] armiger.^[4] Borough Inishe: Johannes Thornton^[5] [and] Edmundus Bloode."

Thornton and Bloode are noted together as being elected to represent Borough Inishe, the new electoral borough encompassing the county town of Ennis, and the extract even notes Borough Inishe as "[i.e. Ennis]." Thornton and Bloode were also both noted as being generosi, a Latin word meaning high born or noble. And all four men were collectively referred to as "gentlemen," a term of strict social rank at the time and not a general term for any adult male as it's often used today. This is primary evidence (recorded at the time by someone with direct knowledge) but coming to us from a derivative source.

This short extract gives us quite a bit of insight into Edmund Blood's rank within Clare society. He was referred to as both a gentleman and high-born and was in the esteemed company of Sir Daniel O'Brien, brother of the current Earl Thomond and himself the future 1st Viscount Thomond; Boetius Clancey, esquire and a future High Sheriff of County Clare; and John Thornton, the incumbent High Sheriff. This is very strong evidence that Edmund Blood was accepted as a member of the Anglo-Irish gentry in County Clare.

2. An Apr 2023 Y-DNA test of a direct male descendant of Edmund Blood via his eldest son Neptune has shown conclusively that Edmund was a Derbyshire Blood as was reported by late 19th and early 20th century derivative sources. This Y-DNA sample grouped very closely with current living male Derbyshire Bloods, and the result showed a divergence from the main Derbyshire line probably occurred sometime in the 1500s. Needless to say, I count DNA evidence as primary evidence from an original source. The fact Edmund's Y-DNA links him to a known English Blood population tells us there have been no "non-paternal events" (i.e., illegitimate male children) in the line tested.

3. The third item is the record of a lawsuit in the Dublin court by Edmund Blood (spelled Edmond Blode) against Robert Scurlocke, dated 1 Jul 1629 and concerning Donnellan in the south of County Clare.^[6] As Edmund's son Edmund is believed to have been deceased by 1629, there is little doubt this is the elder Edmund Blood of Clare.

4. The final item of primary is the 21 May 1638 record entry for a lawsuit heard by the Dublin court in which Edmund Blood was a defendant.^[7] Given he was the only known adult Edmund Blood in Ireland at this time, it is highly likely this is him. If that's the case, then his date of death was sometime after the date of this entry.

Derivative Sources (Published)

What little is known of Edmund Blood first appears in published form in Sir Bernard Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, 9th Edition of 1898:

"Edward^[8][sic] Blood, of Kilnaboy Castle, co. Clare, an Officer in the Army, [who] went to Ireland about 1595. He was M.P. for Ennis 1613."^[9]

The entry goes on to list his children as Neptune, Edmund, Thomas, and William. This information is said to have been derived from a currently unlocated genealogical work published by William Bindon Blood, a descendant of this Edmund Blood, in 1881.^[10] At this earliest stage in the story there was no reference as to where Edmund "went to Ireland" from, nor any reference to his father's name.

Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland, published in 1899, repeats the 1898 entry, again with no reference to where Edmund might have originated or who his family was.^[11] Likewise, the 1904 and 1912 editions still only say that Edmund "went to Ireland," with no hint of where he originated.^[12]

This only changed in 1933 with the publication of Four Score Years and Ten, the autobiography of William Bindon Blood's distinguished son Major General Sir Bindon Blood.^[13] In this work, Sir Bindon adds significant detail to Burke's entries:

• He specified Edmund's military rank was captain, which he implies he knew in part from an oral tradition still extant in County Clare in the early 20th century.
• He was the first to claim in any published work that Edmund's place of origin was "Mackeny - now Makeney - House, near Duffield in Derbyshire." We now know, however, that this information came via Samuel Goodbehere of Birmingham in 1879, and not from anyone among the Irish Bloods.^[1]
• He was the first to put in writing that Edmund was part of a force "raised in the English Midlands and taken over to County Clare by the Lord Inchiquin of the day."
• He specified that Edmund was not only "of Kilnaboy Castle" as Burke had stated, but that he was the owner of both Kilnaboy Castle and Bohersallagh House, also known as Applevale House.

By 1976, Burke's Irish Family Records had expanded the 1899 entry by noting Edmund's rank as captain and adding a father, "Edmund Blood, of Makeney, Duffield, Derbys...d[ied] 1588 (will dated 20 June, pr[obated] Lichfield 15 July)."^[14] It is noteworthy that neither Sir Bindon's 1933 book nor any of Burke's earlier publications ever named Edmund's father.

The only significant addition since 1976 is Robert Hutchinson's The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood: The Spy Who Stole the Crown Jewels and Became the King’s Secret Agent from 2022, which added the unsourced details that Edmund's father Edmund Blood, Sr. was "a minor member of the Tudor gentry," that the sea passage to Ireland was "stormy," and that Edmund's wife was named Margaret. Hutchinson also repeats the anachronistic 1791 claim that it was "the Earl of Inchiquin" who was on the ship and adds the detail that he and Edmund were "comrades-in-arms;" again, without any sourcing for this.^[15]

Derivative Sources (Unpublished)

Referring back to Ms 12,816 at the National Library of Ireland,^[1] here are the key bits from that collection of documents that are relevant to our understanding of Edmund Blood of County Clare:

• The Preface of 1899 states "the Historical Account and the Genealogical Table compiled by William Blood in 1791 cannot, in the absence of documentary evidence, be considered as more than statements of the traditional pedigree of the family so far as the earlier descendants are concerned."
• The William Blood who compiled the 1791 historical account (likely this William Blood) did not know Edmund's place of origin, his father's name, or even his year of arrival; simply stating that it was "in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the year unknown."
• William's 1791 account states that Edmund had two wives but he (William) did not have any record of their names. A later hand added Mary Holcroft to William's 1791 account as Edmund's second wife, but the person who copied the 1791 work into Ms 12,816 in 1899 and wrote the Preface noted that he had done extensive work on the Holcrofts and had found no record of this. This is likely meant to be Mary Holcroft of Lancashire, who married Edmund's presumed grandson "Colonel" Thomas Blood in 1650. This is yet another illustration of the confused mess this family's history had become over the centuries.
• William's 1791 account does state that Edmund was an officer in the army (although no rank or branch are given) and that his son Neptune was born on the crossing to Ireland. He also added that Edmund left the army shortly after arriving in Ireland, a detail seen in none of the published works.
• A pedigree in Ms 12,816 from 1815 only refers to Edmund as "the first of the name from England" and repeats that he had two unnamed wives.
• An 1837 pedigree adds that Edmund was "MP from Ennis" (a later note gives the year as 1613) and a "Captain of Cavalry" instead of just an army officer. (And we know from Major General Sir Bindon Blood's autobiography^[16] that this detail of Edmund having been a captain in the English army still survived as an oral tradition in County Clare well into Sir Bindon's adulthood.)
• An extract made in 1842 from the "Journals of the Irish House of Commons" lists Edmundus Bloode as one of two MPs from Ennis in Apr 1613.
• The first mention of Edmund originating in Makeney in Derbyshire is from an 1879 pedigree sent to William Bindon Blood by one Samuel Goodbehere of Birmingham, who was married to a Birmingham Blood. Goodbehere related this information: "Edmond Blood, or Blud, of Makenay in the parish of Duffield, co. Derby. Will dated 20 June 1588 & proved at Lichfield 15 July 1588." This is probably the origin of the incorrect year of 1588 for this very real will of the very real Edmund Blood of Makeney, but the will is dated 20 Jun 1587 and not 1588.
• Finally, a note added in 1904 by an unknown contributor says of Edmund: "of his tenure at Kilnaboy Castle there is no evidence so far as I am aware."

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} An account of the family of Blood, mainly of Co. Clare, descended from Edmond Blood, M.P., c. 1595, with illustrations of arms. Ms 12,816, National Library of Ireland: Dublin. Online NLI catalogue entry at http://sources.nli.ie/Record/MS_UR_011385
2. ↑ This part is in Latin; the original reads miles, filius Comitis Thomond.
3. ↑ There was a transcription error here. The second Clare MP's name was actually Boetius Clancy.
4. ↑ An armiger was a person entitled to the use of an achievement of arms, and in the early 17th century was the equivalent of "esquire," so the social rank below a knight.
5. ↑ John Thornton was at this time the High Sheriff of County Clare. Later in the year his successor, Samuel Norton, would assume the position.
6. ↑ "Ireland, Court Of Chancery Bill Books 1627-1884," database with images, FindMyPast.co.uk (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FCOURT%2FCHANCERY%2F0000078823 : accessed 2 Aug 2023); data from entry -- First name: Edmond; Last name: Blode; Date: 01/07/1629; Place: Dublin; Bill book: Court of Chancery Pleadings Book 1627-1630, p.291.
7. ↑ "Ireland, Court Of Chancery Bill Books 1627-1884," database with images, FindMyPast.co.uk (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FCOURT%2FCHANCERY%2F0000031470 : accessed 31 Jul 2023); data from entry -- First name: Edmond; Last name: Blood; Date: 04/08/1637 [Note that this date is incorrect, It's the date from the case opposite Edmund's on the preceding page. The date of his case is very clearly 21 May 1638.]; Place: Dublin; County: Dublin; Bill book: Court of Chancery Bill Books 1633-1640; Volume: 1; Page: 181.
8. ↑ This is an interesting mistake of Burke's. There is some evidence that in the later 16th and early 17th centuries the names Edward and Edmund were used semi-interchangeably with each other. This may give us a hint that in addition to Edmund Blood, we might also be wise to keep our eye out for an anomalous Edward Blood in the records in England and Ireland.
9. ↑ Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, 9th Edition. Harrison & Sons, London: 1898, Appendix and Corrigenda, p.vii. Online at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858027897994&view=1up&seq=13
10. ↑ Brian Blood and the Blood Family, https://www.dolmetsch.com/Bebinfo.htm
11. ↑ Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland, 9th Edition. Harrison & Sons, London: 1899, Supplement, pp.ix-x. Online at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/pdf/?product_id=1489
12. ↑ Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland, New Edition. Harrison & Sons, London: 1912, p.56. Online at https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera00burkuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
13. ↑ Blood, Sir Bindon, Maj Gen, GCB, GCVO. Four Score Years and Ten, published by G. Bell and Sons Ltd., London: 1933, pp.1-2. Available online at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208528
14. ↑ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed.). Burke’s Irish Family Records, Burke’s Peerage Limited, London: 1976, p.142. Online at https://www.burkespeerage.com (subscription required)
15. ↑ Hutchinson, Robert. The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood: The Spy Who Stole the Crown Jewels and Became the King’s Secret Agent. Orion. Kindle Edition, Location 139 of 6615.
16. ↑ Blood, Sir Bindon, Maj Gen, GCB, GCVO. Four Score Years and Ten, published by G. Bell and Sons Ltd., London: 1933, pp. 9-10. Available online at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208528