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

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The Bloods of Greater London

Author: Garry Michael Blood, 28 Mar 2023

Greater London

What is today called Greater London is a probable location of an independent origin of the surname Blood.

These are the Bloods found in the City of Westminster, the City of London, and the immediately adjacent areas of Middlesex and Surrey (i.e., what's today referred to as Greater London, although that entity did not exist at the time). Given their early appearance in the historical record -- they first appear in Westminster in 1321 -- they almost certainly represent a very early independent origin of the surname, likely in the late 12th century or the early 13th century. The inclusion in London and Westminster of the two of the earliest sites of Blood Piety in England, Holy Sepulchre Church and Westminster Abbey, support the hypothesis that Blood as a surname originated in the Christian cult of Blood Piety.

Bloods of Greater London from 1321 to 1750

The heatmap below shows all records of Bloods in Westminster, the City of London, and the immediately adjacent areas of Middlesex and Surrey from 1321 to the end of 1750. There are, however, a few periods in which the London Bloods disappear entirely from any surviving records:

• From 1371 to 1441 (70 years) there are no records of Bloods in Greater London, then in 1441 there're two land records involving the same Blood (a Ralph Blood).
• After 1441 there are again no records of Bloods until 1592 (about 150 years).
• Since 1592, the Blood presence in what's now Greater London has continued uninterrupted.

Discounting Ralph Blood in 1441, who was active in Willesden, well outside the bounds of Late Medieval London or Westminster, we have a period of 220 years in which it seems Bloods disappeared from London and Westminster. To me, this points to the extinction of the original London Blood population followed by a re-colonisation by Bloods from elsewhere in England. So, it's possible the modern London Bloods are not a continuation of the original 14th century London Blood population.

Important Note: There are 83 records of Bloods in this period that are listed as just "London" and are plotted to a generic location in the centre of the City of London (I've used Bank Station). The red crosses outside of the clusters mark individual records that could be tied to a specific parish.