William Pike (died 22 December 1591) was an English

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 ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

who was beatified in 1987. Several sources state that William was born in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. In 'A History of Dorset' () A. Lindsay Clegg, former Town Clerk of

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, claims that Pike lived at

Moordown Moordown is a suburb of Bournemouth, situated in the northern part of the borough. It was incorporated into the borough of Bournemouth in 1901, having previously been part of the Christchurch rural district. Antiquity Moordown, according to Mich ...

, now within modern

, then part of the

Liberty of Westover Westover, Hampshire, is the ancient manor, now in Dorset, over which much of modern Bournemouth has developed. This area of land marked a historic boundary between Celtic and Saxon civilisations, which found expression as the county boundary bet ...

. Pike, or Pyk was a common name in Westover since the 14th century, according to the Christchurch Cartulary (). Pike is also said to have lived at

West Moors West Moors is a village in Dorset, England, on the northern fringe of the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, just outside the larger settlements of Ferndown and Verwood. The parish of West Moors had an estimated population of 7,400 in 2004, increasi ...

in West Parley, where he worked as a carpenter. He was executed by being hung, drawn and quartered on 22 December 1591 for denying the Royal Supremacy. He is thought to have been converted to Catholicism by

Thomas Pilchard Thomas Pilchard (Pilcher) (born at Battle, Sussex, 1557; executed at Dorchester, 21 March 1587) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987 as one of the Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales, with whom ...

. Rachel Lloyd suggests that the Pikes were a Bristol family, and that William (who lived in the Village of Moors on the Hampshire border) was the brother of Martha Pike. Martha's husband Henry Falkner had converted priest John Chapman to Catholicism, in 1579. Henry mentioned his brother-in-law William Pike in his will.Dorset Elizabethans At Home and Abroad, by Rachel Lloyd, 1967, pub John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, p.114.

References

1591 deaths People from Bournemouth English beatified people Converts to Roman Catholicism People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering Executed people from Dorset 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales 16th-century venerated Christians Year of birth unknown English carpenters {{RC-bio-stub