Person    | Female  Born 1505  Died 13/2/1542

Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford

Categories: Execution

Born Jane Parker, a distant relative of Henry VIII, she became a lady-in-waiting to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and to quite a few of those that followed.  Married Anne Boleyn’s brother, George, and later, when Anne was an unwanted wife and George and Anne were accused of incest, Jane gave evidence against her husband. Consequently George was beheaded on Tower Hill along with four other men also accused of adultery with Anne.  A few years later when Henry needed to get rid of another wife, Anne of Cleves, Jane again provided useful evidence.  When Catherine Howard (number 5) needed a go-between to facilitate her liaisons with Thomas Culpeper Jane stepped into the role.  But the affair was discovered and all involved and some that weren't, were imprisoned.  Jane appeared to suffer a nervous breakdown and was declared insane which ought to have saved her life but Henry changed the law to allow the execution of the insane and so Jane was beheaded at Tower Green, immediately after Catherine.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford

Commemorated ati

Tower of London execution site

Catling wrote the poem as well as creating the sculpture. Doesn't that cushio...

Read More

Tower scaffold - 1946

See Anne Boleyn's plaque for when/how this plaque was displayed.

Read More

Other Subjects

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Closely related to the royal family but Henry VIII took against Henry and his father, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.  They were imprisoned and Henry was beheaded at Tower Hill.  His father sur...

Person, Execution, Poetry

1 memorial
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

Born Reading. 1628 became Bishop of London. 1633 became Archbishop of Canterbury. Supported Charles I, opposed many of the church practices that had come in during Queen Elizabeth's reign and perse...

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration, Religion

2 memorials
Elizabeth Pepper

Elizabeth Pepper

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

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey

Married to Lord Guilford Dudley.  Her husband’s father persuaded the dying Edward VI to declare his two sisters Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate, which left Jane, on Edward's death, the queen.  Mary...

Person, Execution, Royalty, Seriously Famous

4 memorials
Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat

Jacobite. Taken prisoner at the Battle of Culloden. Tried and was the last man to be beheaded on the Tower Hill scaffold. We're sure that made him feel a lot better about it. 2017: The Scotsman re...

Person, Armed Forces, Execution, Scotland

1 memorial