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.
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...
Other Subjects
Lord William Russell
Son of the 5th Earl Bedford. MP for Tavistock. Convicted of being part of the Rye House Plot to assassinate the Catholic King Charles II and beheaded, eventually, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. When th...
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...
Sir William Wallace
Scottish knight and national hero. Born Renfrewshire. Convicted of treason Wallace was executed at Smithfield. He was hanged, drawn and quartered - a very gruesome death reserved for traitors. Mel ...
Corporal Samuel MacPhearson
See Farquar Shaw for the story of the Black Watch mutiny.
Thomas Reeding
Lay brother at London Charterhouse. Taken Taken to Newgate Prison, chained and left to starve to death.