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Stratford Martyrs

Categories: Execution, Religion

The church website has done a very thorough job on the history not just of the memorial but the church and the area so we quote them here on the background to the martyrs: "In 1553 Queen Mary Tudor came to the throne of England. She was a devout Roman Catholic and longed to bring her people back to the church of Rome. This made her unpopular with English noblemen who had acquired wealth and lands when Henry VIII confiscated the Catholic monasteries, and also with Parliament. In 1554 an unsuccessful Protestant insurrection broke out under the leadership of Sir Thomas Wyat. Wyat was defeated and executed. Mary married the Catholic King Philip II of Spain, she restored the Catholic creed, and revived the laws against heresy. For three years rebel bodies dangled from gibbets, and heretics were relentlessly executed, some 300 being burned at the stake. The queen, now known as Bloody Mary, was hated. She died in 1558, in London, and with her died the persecutions."

Garry at St John's also kindly gave us permission to use two of their pictures, this one and Bolton.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Stratford Martyrs

Commemorated ati

Stratford Martyrs

The event on 27 June 1556 was a big draw: "These 11 men and 2 women were brou...

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Other Subjects

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Born near Maidstone, son of the poet of the same name.  Opposed the marriage of Queen Mary to Phillip of Spain, he marched on London in 1554 with 4,000 men of Kent but, failing, on 6 February, to g...

Person, Armed Forces, Execution

1 memorial
Captain Charles Algernon Fryatt

Captain Charles Algernon Fryatt

Master mariner.  Born Southampton.  From Hellfire Corner : Captain of the Great Eastern Railway Company's steamer Brussels, he in utter defiance of the Germans continued to work the Rotterdam-Briti...

Person, Commerce, Execution

War dead, WW1
2 memorials
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester

John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester

Born Yorkshire.  Opposed Henry VIII's self-appointment as head of the Church of England.  Result: decapitation on Tower Hill.

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration, Religion

2 memorials
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

Born Bath, of royal blood, she survived the Wars of the Roses and was trusted by Henry VIII enough to be a governess to Mary, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon.  However when the king wanted a di...

Person, Execution

2 memorials
Elizabeth Pepper

Elizabeth Pepper

Burnt at the stake in Bow (or possibly Stratford) for her Protestant beliefs.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial