Robert Drake(s) (died 24 April 1556) was the Rector of The Parish of

Thundersley Thundersley is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Benfleet, in the Castle Point borough, in southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, east of Charing Cross, London. In 1951 ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He was

burned at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...

for his

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

faith. He was examined by the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...

who asked whether Drake would comply with the laws of England at the time (i.e.

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

). According to

Foxe's Book of Martyrs The ''Actes and Monuments'' (full title: ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church''), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant Engli ...

he replied, “''As for your church of Rome, I utterly defy and refuse it, with all the works thereof, even as I refuse the devil and all his works.” This was during the reign of Queen Mary I (1553 - 58), daughter of Henry VIII; she restored the Roman Catholic Church to her realm, persecuted Protestants as 'heretics', and earned the name of 'Bloody Mary.'....''" In recent years the martyrdom of Revd. Robert Drake has been commemorated at St Peter's Church, Thundersley, the principal church of the Parish of Thundersley, on or near to 24 April each year. The Robert Drake School is a quarter of a mile west of St. Peters on Church Road.

References

Protestant martyrs of England {{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Robert Year of birth missing 1556 deaths