Robert Bickerdike (died 1586) was an English Roman Catholic layman, executed on a treason charge. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.

Life

He was born at Low Hall,

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

, near Knaresborough, and lived at York, where he was an apprentice. In the summer of 1585 he was seen having a glass of ale with Catholic priest

John Boste John Boste (c. 1544 – 24 July 1594) is a saint in the Catholic Church, and one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Life John Boste was born in Dufton, Westmorland around 1544, the son of Nicholas Boste, landowner of Dufton and Penri ...

, and as Bickerdike had paid, this was seen by some as sufficient grounds for an arrest. There being no evident proof, he was acquitted and discharged.Burton, Edwin H., "Venerable Robert Bickerdike", ''Lives of the English Martyrs'', (Edwin H. Burton and J. H. Pollen eds.), London. Longmans, Green and Co., 1914
/ref> On 3 June 1586, when

Francis Ingleby Francis Ingleby (c. 1551 – 3 June 1586) was a Roman Catholic martyr executed in York, England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Born about 1551, he was the fourth son of Sir William Ingleby and Anne Malory of Ripley Castle, North Yorkshir ...

was being dragged on the hurdle to execution, hearing a minister's wife say: "Let us go into the Tolbooth and we shall see the traitorly thief come over on the hurdle", Bickerdike said, "No; no thief, but as true as thou art". The father of the minister's wife had Bickerdicke committed to Ousebridge Jail. On being found not guilty, Judge Rhodes had him removed from the city gaol to the Castle and tried once more at the Lammas Assizes on the same charge. He was then condemned. He was executed at York on 5 August or 8 October 1586.Cook, Bede. "Ven. Robert Bickerdike." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 28 March 2016

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Bickerdike, Robert Year of birth missing 1586 deaths English beatified people People executed under the Tudors for treason against England 16th-century Roman Catholics People from the Borough of Harrogate Executed people from North Yorkshire 16th-century executions by England People executed under Elizabeth I Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales

Life

See also

References