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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.

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

Stephen Harwood

Stephen Harwood

Burnt at the stake in Stratford for his Protestant beliefs. A brewer, associated with Fust. Condemned by Bishop Bonner.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
John Warne

John Warne

Burnt at the stake in Smithfield for his Protestant beliefs. Upholsterer, husband of Elizabeth.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford

Born Chancery Lane.  An unpopular Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Supported Charles I against Parliament and so the Long Parliament impeached him and he was beheaded on Tower Hill.

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
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
Lieutenant Colonel Selden Raymond Edner, DFC

Lieutenant Colonel Selden Raymond Edner, DFC

Selden Raymond Edner was born on 26 January 1919 in Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County, Minnesota, USA, the second of the three sons of Eric Olaus Edner (1890-1948) and Anna Josephina Edner née Halvor...

Person, Execution, Greece, USA

War dead, Other war
1 memorial