Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Blood Bloud Blud

Contents 1 Achievements of Arms Attributed to English & Irish Bloods 1.1 Introduction & Caveat 1.1.1 Further Reading 1.2 Terminology 1.2.1 Further Reading 1.3 Illustrations & History of Blood Achievements of Arms 1.3.1 Notes on the Images Here 1.3.2 Section 1: Suspect Achievements of Arms 1.3.2.1 Suspect Arms 1 1.3.2.2 Suspect Arms 2 1.3.2.3 Suspect Arms 3 1.3.2.4 Suspect Arms 4 1.3.2.5 Suspect Arms 5 1.3.2.6 Suspect Arms 6 1.3.3 Section 2: Genuine Achievements of Arms 1.3.3.1 The Bloods of Ballykilty 1.3.3.2 The Bloods of Cranagher 1.3.3.3 The Bloods of Kingston Upon Thames 1.4 Sources

Achievements of Arms Attributed to English & Irish Bloods

Author: Garry Michael Blood, 4 Feb 2023

Introduction & Caveat

I was honestly reluctant to address the subject of family crests and coats of arms in this name study because of the immense level of misunderstanding that comes with this subject. However, this is also an aspect of the history and genealogy of the English-origin Bloods, and so I have decided to include it.

Everyone loves crests and coats of arms, and everyone wants one to display. I get it. And that's great, but everyone should at least be informed of the reality of the matter. Whether they decide to take that into account is up to them. Here are the facts and rules concerning achievements of arms in the United Kingdom:

• Most people were never granted arms. In the Medieval period in England and her realm, arms were limited to men and women of the rank of knight/dame or above, which was never more than about 2 percent of the population. In the post-Medieval period, the right to be granted arms was slowly extended down the social hierarchy to gentlemen and ladies but this was still no more than about 5 percent of the population.
• Arms were never granted to whole families or all people of a given surname. In England, and in countries that were historically under English legal and political control (Wales, the former Kingdom of Ireland, Scotland in some respects), an "achievement of arms" was what it says: an achievement. They were granted to one man (or sometimes to a woman of the aristocracy) to recognise what they had done or accomplished, i.e., achieved. There is no case where arms were ever granted to an entire family and certainly no reason for everyone, everywhere, of the same surname to be granted the same arms.
• Contrary to popular belief, in English heraldry -- also applicable to Wales, Northern Ireland, and the former Kingdom of Ireland -- a grant of arms is inheritable, passing down the direct, legitimate, male line of descent, meaning all sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, and so on, as long as they carry the surname of the original grantee (i.e., the paternal line). A daughter was/is entitled to bear a modified form of her father's arms, to include arms he inherited from his father, grandfather, etc.
• By custom and tradition (and national law in some Commonwealth countries) a person should only display a genuine, documented, properly granted achievement of arms if they can prove direct, legitimate descent from a man who was either officially granted those arms or whose existing arms were given official status through confirmation by the relevant authority in that country. Legitimate and properly granted arms are considered copyrighted under the laws of many countries as well as international copyright law, and there is always a legal risk associated with using someone else's copyright without permission.
• However, achievements of arms that are not considered genuine or that can no longer be linked to a specific line of grantees are probably "fair game" for others to adopt and use if they wish. At the very least, there would be no copyright owner to contest it.

Further Reading

• College of Arms Homepage
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • The Law of Arms
• The Real Truth Behind Coats of Arms and Family Crests

Terminology

• Achievement of Arms: Also known as an armorial achievement or armorial bearings, it's the full display of the grantee's complete arms, showing shield, helm, crest, wreath, and, if appropriate, additions such as mantling, a motto, and supporters. When most people say "coat of arms," what they really mean is an achievement of arms. The coat of arms is only one element of a full achievement.
• Blazon of Arms: The formal description of an achievement of arms, from which one can reconstruct the correct image. Because different artists can portray the same item in a blazon slightly differently, the same blazon could result in different images that might be slightly different in minor details. For instance, "hound," a general type of hunting dog, is an element found in many blazons, but what breed of hound is rarely specified. One artist might depict an elkhound, and another might depict a dachshund. As they're both hounds, both are equally correct. In heraldry, this variation is considered acceptable as long as a herald could re-construct the correct blazon by looking at the image.
• Emblazonment: The correct image of an achievement of arms that has been created from its blazon.
• Shield: Formally known as the escutcheon, the shield forms the main element in an achievement of arms. The shield, along with the colours, images, and symbols on it, are collectively known as the "coat of arms," but the coat of arms is only one part of the overall achievement of arms.
• Charges: The images, shapes, and symbols on the shield are called charges. They are an element of the coat of arms.
• Helm: The Medieval war helmet that sits on top of the shield and bears the crest and wreath. The type of helm is not specified in the blazon of arms because it varied by the person's rank and social status, which could change over time.
• Crest: The object attached to the top of the helm. These originate in the decorative sculptures worn by knights of the High Middle Ages in tournaments, and to a lesser extent in battle, as an additional means of identification. This has now, as "family crest," become a synonym for the entire achievement of arms. This was historically never the case and strictly speaking is still not correct even today.
• Wreath: Also known as a torse, this is a twisted piece of cloth of one or more colours that wraps around the base of the crest where it attaches to the helm.
• Motto: The saying, slogan, or battle-cry associated with that bearer or used by the bearer's family. In English heraldry, the motto is not considered to be part of the achievement of arms and therefore the bearer is free to change or discard it as they see fit.

Further Reading

• Understanding an Achievement of Arms
• English Heritage's Guide to Heraldry

Illustrations & History of Blood Achievements of Arms

Notes on the Images Here

• If no crest is present then no crest was described in the blazon of arms.
• In all cases where there is a crest, I have omitted the helm that it would normally be attached to and put in a simple black wreath if the wreath was not described.
• If a motto was stated in the blazon of arms then it will be noted in the description.

Section 1: Suspect Achievements of Arms

The achievements of arms in this section are regarded by the College of Arms as suspect and potentially not genuine because the records held by the College lack the name of the grantee, the date of the grant, or even the location where the grantee resided (i.e., at least county). There's a good chance none of these were ever officially granted to any Blood at any time, which means -- on a positive note -- if you decide to use or display any of these arms you won't be infringing on the legal holder's rights.

Suspect Arms 1

We will start this section with the simplest of all the Blood achievements of arms, which is a coat of arms consisting of a single charge on a shield of only one colour. It's hard to get much simpler than that. This one is the second entry in The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales of 1884 by Sir Bernard Burke,^[1] usually called simply Burke's Armory. Its blazon of arms reads "Gules, a knife argent, haft Or." Since knife is a generic heraldic term for everything from a fighting knife like a poignard to a working tool like a pruning knife, I've created two versions of this coat of arms, one with a fighting knife and one with a work knife. The College of Arms has no records showing to whom, when, or even in what country this coat of arms was granted. This is an indication this achievement of arms is probably not genuine.

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Suspect Arms 2

The next one in this section is the first of the Blood entries in Burke's Armory. Its blazon of arms is "Or, three bucks lodged proper. Crest - a buck's head erased proper, attired Or, holding in the mouth an arrow gold." The College of Arms has no records showing to whom, when, or in what country this coat of arms was granted. This is an indication this achievement of arms is probably not genuine.

Note: The buck's head crest on my reconstruction is not depicted erased. An erased buck's head would have a ragged appearance at the neck, like this.

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Suspect Arms 3

There's another version of the above achievement. It's found in the 1899 Preface to the file of notes and papers concerning the Bloods of Ireland.^[2] The author of the Preface notes that "In the College of Arms, London, in the "E.D.N. Alphabet", the Arms of Bloud are given as Or, three Bucks couchant vulned with arrows proper, with the Crest, a Buck's head erased, with an arrow in its mouth, attired Or." This differs from the Burke's version above in that the bucks are wounded (i.e., vulned) with arrows, while the bucks in Burke's are not injured. Also, the colour of the arrow in the crest isn't specified here. The E.D.N. Alphabet is a late-17th century armorial (a catalogue of achievements of arms), so about 200 years older than Burke's Armory. This means that the 'injured' form of this coat of arms is probably older than the uninjured form found in Burke's. Dating from not later than the late 17th century also makes this the oldest Blood achievement of arms of which we can be confident. While it's mentioned in a manuscript concerning the Irish Bloods, there's no evidence this was granted to someone in or from Ireland. In fact, there's no information concerning to whom these arms were granted, when, or where -- an indication this achievement of arms is possibly not genuine or that, if genuine, its provenance has been lost to history.

Note: The buck's head crest on my reconstruction is not depicted erased. An erased buck's head would look like this.

Version with bucks couchant vulned

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Suspect Arms 4

Below is the third blazon of arms found in Burke's Armory. It reads "Quarterly, argent and azure, in each quarter a quatrefoil counterchanged. Crest - a talbot's head Sable, collared Or." While it's noted as being born by a Blood from Ireland, neither the College of Arms nor the Ulster King of Arms has any records showing to whom or when this achievement of arms was granted. This is an indication this achievement of arms is probably not genuine.

Note: On this depiction I've made the talbot's head dark grey instead of jet black (sable) so that details were still visible.

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Suspect Arms 5

The last achievement of arms in Burke's Armory is actually for a Bloud, a common variant of Blood that survives to the present day. It is without a doubt the oddest Blood coat of arms. The blazon of arms for it reads "Sable, a comb argent on a lock of golden hair." It has no crest. This looks very much like someone in the personal beauty trade (a barber or hairdresser perhaps) who had been particularly successful and decided to create for themselves a coat of arms. This became more common in the 19th century as the United Kingdom developed a middle class. The College of Arms has no records showing to whom or when, or even in what country this coat of arms was granted. This is an indication this achievement of arms is probably not genuine.

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Suspect Arms 6

The final Blood achievement of arms for Section 1 is mentioned on page 9 of the Preface of Ms 12,816 at the National Library of Ireland:^[3]

"The Bloods of the County Clare, for certainly upwards of a century, have borne Argent, a fesse Gules between six martlets Sable, with the Crest, A demi-Neptune (sometimes as a full-length figure) with his trident in his dexter hand all proper...These bearings, however, are not on record in the office of Ulster King of Arms and in 1896 the Bloods of Ballykilty, to remedy the omission, procured from the Ulster King of Arms, Confirmation of the Arms theretofore borne by them..."

The problem is, this is not exactly the same achievement of arms that was confirmed to John Blood of Ballykilty in 1896, which is genuine (see first entry in Section 2 below). The red fess on the 1896 arms is indented, while the fess described in Ms 12,816 isn't; it's the standard straight-edged fess. Small details matter in heraldry, and that difference makes these arms different from the ones confirmed to John Blood of Ballykilty (see Section 2 below). One might think the entry in the Preface to Ms 12,816 made a mistake, but on page 29 of the same manuscript these same arms are not only mentioned again but also drawn in a copy made of a letter from Bindon Blood of Cranagher to J. Howell Blood dated 7 Feb 1826. The arms illustrated in the letter are the same ones described above, and Bindon even adds the blazon: "on a Shield Argent, with Fess Gules, Six Martlets. The Crest Neptune." So the Preface wasn't mistaken; this is the standard straight-edged fess. Bindon also adds that the motto in use at the time was Honos Virtutis Praemium (yes, it's honos, not honor; the text is very clear). He concludes that the seal of the Bloods of Cranagher, which he makes clear was the same arms he just described, carried a different motto. According to Bindon, the motto was written in Hebrew as יְהוָה יִרְאֶה‎ -- the expression Jehovah Jireh, or "The Lord Will Provide."

In any event, it appears the arms here are not genuine in the sense that, while used by a family that was later granted arms, these arms were never officially granted to anyone.

Probable original form of the arms of the Bloods of Ballykilty

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Section 2: Genuine Achievements of Arms

The achievements of arms in this section are the only ones of undisputed authenticity. What that means is these arms may very well be copyrighted in one or more countries and are considered to be the property of the descendants of the named grantees. You really, really shouldn't use any of these arms unless you're an eligible member of one of these families.

The Bloods of Ballykilty

The first of the authentic achievements is that granted to John Blood of Ballykilty. This achievement was officially confirmed to him on 3 Feb1896 and is recorded as Ulster Grants 2.82 per the College of Arms. The blazon of arms is: "Argent on a Fess indented Gules between six Martlets Sable two Crescents Or and for a Crest On a Wreath of the Colours Issuant from Waves of the Sea a demi figure of Neptune proper, and for Motto: HONOR VIRTUTIS PRAEMIUM."^[4] These arms are illustrated here:

Arms of the Bloods of Ballykilty

John "requested that arms be confirmed to be borne and used by him and his descendants and the other descendants of his great grandfather...John Blood of Bally Kitty"^[4] [sic; John Blood was of Ballykilty in Co. Clare, not Bally Kitty in Co. Meath; as the genealogy in the grant is that of John Blood of Ballykilty, this is clearly a later copyist's error]. As the blazon makes clear, the fess in this 1896 grant is indented -- sawtoothed on the upper and lower edges -- not the straight edges as in the very similar arms seen in the previous section above. The Preface, p.9, of Ms 12,816 may clarify why this is. It says the confirmation of the arms to John Blood contained "certain necessary differences" from the original version. Given that the indented fess is the only difference, this must be what is being referenced (Note: The two crescents are "cadency marks" that show the relationship between the bearer and the bearer's father or the original grantee in this case; these may not have been viewed as sufficient differentiation since they are temporary additions to the achievement of arms). So, there we have it; the reason for the difference between the official 1896 arms of the Bloods of Ballykilty and the unofficial 1826 arms of the Bloods of Cranagher -- John Blood was allowed them as long as they were differentiated.

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The Bloods of Cranagher

Next, we have the genuine arms of Major General Sir Bindon Blood of Cranagher, grandson of the Bindon Blood of the 1826 letter copied into Ms 12,816. The blazon of arms, catalogued by the College of Arms as Irish Grants I 115/5.11, is:

"Quarterly First and Fourth Argent a Fess indented Gules between six Martlets Sable (for Blood) Second and Third Gules three Escallops Argent within a Bordure engrailed Or (for Bindon), and for a Crest: On a Wreath of the Colours Issuant from Waves of the Sea a demi figure of Neptune proper, and for Motto: HONOR VIRTUTIS PRAEMIUM."^[4]

On 21 Jan 1902, Sir Arthur Edward Vicars, the Ulster King of Arms, confirmed that these are indeed the arms granted to Sir Bindon Blood of Cranagher.^[4] A copy of that original 1902 confirmation containing this blazon is held by the National Library of Ireland and is available online.^[5] Note that this coat of arms is "quartered" between the arms of Blood and the arms of Bindon, the latter representing Sir Bindon's paternal grandmother Elizabeth Bindon.

The Blood coat of arms quartered in Sir Bindon's achievement are those of the Bloods of Ballykilty as confirmed to John Blood in 1896; the ones with the indented fess, but without John's personal cadency marks (the crescents). But herein lies a problem; Sir Bindon wasn't from the Ballykilty line of Bloods. The last common Blood ancestor between him and John Blood was Thomas Blood, Sir Bindon's 4th great grandfather. This means the confirmation of the Ballykilty arms would have been of no value to Sir Bindon -- he would not have been authorised to bear those arms as he was not a direct male descendant of John Blood's great grandfather John Blood, to whom the arms were retroactively granted. Sir Bindon should have born the arms of his grandfather Bindon Blood of Cranagher described in Ms 12,816 as seen in Section 1, after getting them confirmed, of course. I have no idea why he was using the arms of the Bloods of Ballykilty, but as his achievement was granted by the Ulster King of Arms it no longer matters. That grant made this achievement of arms official and legal.

Arms of Sir Bindon Blood of Cranagher

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The Bloods of Kingston Upon Thames

Finally, the last and most recent genuine achievement of arms issued to a Blood was granted to Nigel Leonard Blood of Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, on 15 May 1989, and is catalogued as College of Arms MS Grants 153.233. The blazon of arms reads: "Per pale Azure and Gules a Lion rampant enhanced between three Spur Rowels Or and in fess two Crescents Argent and for the Crest On a Wreath Or Azure and Gules Upon a Grassy Mount a Stag passant holding in the mouth a Vine Leaf proper vulned in its breast and shoulder of three drops of Blood Gules attired and unguled Gold Mantled Azure and Gules doubled Or, and for the Motto: SANGUINEUM CAPUT MEUM SED TAMEN ELATUM."^[4]

Because this achievement of arms was very recently granted and is presumably in active use today, I have elected not to create an image of it at all.

Sources

1. ↑ Burke, Sir Bernard. The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time. Published by Harrison & Sons of London: 1884, p.92. Available online at https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk
2. ↑ Family Histories & Genealogies of the Bloods of Ireland, Ms 12,186. The National Library of Ireland.
3. ↑ 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
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Personal email correspondence between Garry Blood and William Hunt, Research Assistant to the Windsor Herald, The College of Arms, London: 9 Feb 2023.
5. ↑ National Library of Ireland, Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol. J, 1898-1909, Entry for BLOOD, pp.115-116. Online at https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000529301 -- Images 235-236.