- Thomas More
Thomas More Thomas More Thomas More had an education suited to a son of a gentleman, and seemed destined for the legal career mapped out by his father. Although the future held much promise for him, More was unsure of the direction he wanted his life to take. He considered becoming a priest but decided not to enter the Church because of his burning desire to have a family. - Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 - 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, was a member of a group of English Roman Catholics who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605. - Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 or 1554 – 29 October, 1618), was a famed English writer, poet, courtier and explorer. He was responsible for establishing the first English colony in the New World, on June 4, 1584, at Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. When the settlement failed, the ultimate fate of the colonists was never authoritatively ascertained, and it became known as "The Lost Colony". - William Wallace
Sir William Wallace (c. 1270-August 23, 1305) was a knight and Scottish patriot, who led a resistance against the English occupation of Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is considered the greatest hero in Scotland's history. Wallace was the inspiration for the poem "The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie" by the 15th century minstrel Blind Harry. The 1995 film "Braveheart" is based on the poem. - Roger Casement
Roger David Casement (1 September, 1864 - 3 August, 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG between 1905 and July 1916, was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary and nationalist by inclination. He was a British diplomat by profession and is famous for his activities against human rights abuses in the Congo and Peru, but more well known for his dealings with Germany prior to Ireland's Easter Rising in 1916. - John Brown
John Brown (May 9, 1800 - December 2, 1859) was the first white American abolitionist to advocate and practice insurrection as a means to the abolition of slavery. President Abraham Lincoln said he was a "misguided fanatic" and Brown has been called "the most controversial of all 19th-century Americans." His attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among enslaved blacks in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, electrified the nation, … - Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (10 November 1567 - 25 February 1601), a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is the best-known of the many holders of the title "Earl of Essex." He was a military hero, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1599, he defied the queen and was executed for treason. - William Joyce
William Joyce, the man generally associated with the nickname Lord Haw-Haw, was a fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during World War II. He was executed for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities. - Perkin Warbeck
Perkin Warbeck (c. 1474 - November 23, 1499) was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England. He was an impostor, pretending to be Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV of England, but was in fact a Fleming born in Tournai around 1474. He was the son of John Warbeck and Katherine de Faro. The real Richard of Shrewsbury was almost certainly dead by this time, most likely murdered in the Tower of London. - Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval (28 June 1883 - 15 October 1945) was a French politician and four times Prime Minister of France, the final time being under the Vichy government. Judged for Collaborationism after World War II, he was found guilty of high treason and executed after the war. - Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian army officer and fascist politician. He held the office of Minister President in occupied Norway from February 1942 to the end of World War II, while the elected social democratic cabinet of Johan Nygaardsvold was exiled in London. After the war he was tried for high treason and subsequently executed by firing squad. His surname has become an eponym for "traitor", especially a collaborationist. - Edmund Dudley
Edmund Dudley (c. 1462 - August 17, 1510), minister of Henry VII of England, was a grandson of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley. After studying at Oxford and at Gray's Inn, Dudley came under the notice of Henry VII, and is said to have been made a privy councillor at the early age of twenty-three. In 1492 he helped to negotiate the Peace of Etaples with France and soon became prominent in assisting the king to check the lawlessness of the barons. - Henry Garnet
Henry Garnet or Garnett (1555 - May 3, 1606) was an English Jesuit, executed due to his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605. He was the son of Brian Garnett, headmaster of Nottingham High School from 1565 - c. 1575. - Henry Howard Earl of Surrey
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey KG (1517 - 19 January 1547) was an English aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry. - William Knight
Blessed William Knight (1572-29 November, 1596) was put to death for his Roman Catholic faith at York, England. With him also suffered Venerables George Errington of Herst, Northumberland; William Gibson of Ripon; and William Abbot of Howden, Yorkshire. William Knight was the son of a Leonard Knight and lived at South Duffield, Hemington. On coming of age, he claimed some property left to him by his father, from his uncle, a Protestant, … - Robert Aske
Robert Aske (1500 - July 12 1537) was an English lawyer who became the leader of rebellion in York. He led the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1537. - William Stanley
Sir William Stanley (? - 1495) was the younger brother of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby. Stanley fought with his troops in several battles of the Wars of the Roses. He is best known for actions in the Battle of Bosworth Field, where he changed sides, securing Henry VII's victory and crown. After the Battle of Tewkesbury, it was he who captured Queen Margaret (Margaret of Anjou). For his intervention, the new king bestowed many favors on him. - Edward Seymour 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 - January 22, 1552) was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of King Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549. He was born in about 1506 to Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth. Edward was the eldest brother of Jane Seymour, who would become King Henry VIII's third Queen consort. Their brother, Thomas, also gained power through their sister's advancement. - Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (March 10, 1536 - June 2 1572) was an English nobleman, also the 1st Earl of Southampton. Howard was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Howard's patronage. His father predeceased him and so Thomas inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk upon the death of his grandfather, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk in 1554. - John Dudley 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley (1501 - August 22/23, 1553) was a Tudor general, admiral and politician, who became de facto ruler of England, tried to make his daughter-in-law Queen of England and was executed for high treason by Queen Mary I of England. - Elizabeth Barton
Sr. Elizabeth Barton (known as The Nun of Kent, The Holy Maid of London, The Holy Maid of Kent and later The Mad Maid of Kent; 1506? - April 20 1534) was executed for prophesying that if King Henry VIII of England married Anne Boleyn against the wishes of the Pope, he would die within six months. Little is known of Barton's early life, although she appears to have come from a poor background, … - Thomas Wyatt The Younger
Thomas Wyatt the younger was a rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I of England; his rising is traditionally called Wyatt's rebellion. He was born at Allington Castle, the only son of Sir Thomas Wyatt, a poet, by Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of Thomas Brooke, 3rd Lord Cobham. The Duke of Norfolk was his godfather. At the age of fifteen he became a squire at the court of King Henry VIII, and Joint Constable of Conisborough Castle. - Anthony Babington
Anthony Babington (October 24, 1561 - September 20, 1586) was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary I of Scotland. The "Babington Plot" and Mary's alleged involvement in it were the basis of the treason charges against her which led to her execution. Born into a wealthy Catholic family to Henry Babington and Mary Darcy in Dethick, Derbyshire, England, he was their third son. - Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach was a French pro-Nazi Germany author in the Vichy France who was executed for collaboration. Born in Perpignan, he studied at the École Normale Supérieure and then became a novelist and literary critic for the "Action Française" of Charles Maurras. After the 6 February 1934 crisis in the Place de la Concorde, Brasillach openly supported fascism. After the fall of France, he became an editor of "Je suis partout", an antisemitic paper, … - Josef Jakobs
Corporal Josef Jakobs (30 June 1898 - 15 August 1941) was a German agent, who was shot by firing squad in the Tower of London during the Second World War after conviction under the Treachery Act of 1940. He was the last person to be executed in the Tower. He was executed by a firing squad of eight Scots Guards while sitting down in a chair due to having a broken ankle. - Richard Empson
Sir Richard Empson, minister of Henry VII, king of England, was a son of Peter Empson, an influential inhabitant of Towcester. Educated as a lawyer he soon attained considerable success in his profession, and in 1491 was a Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire in parliament and speaker of the House of Commons. Early in the reign of Henry VII he became associated with Edmund Dudley in carrying out the king’s rigorous and arbitrary system of taxation, … - William Hastings 1st Baron Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings of Hungerford became one of the great powers of the English realm during the reign of Edward IV of England, but was executed after being accused of conspiracy against his one-time companion, Richard III. Hastings' father was Sir Leonard Hastings, who owned a modest estate in Leicestershire and Gloucestershire, where the family had long been established. His mother was Alice Camoys, daughter of Elizabeth Mortimer and the 1st Baron Camoys. - William Brereton
William Brereton, (May 17,1536), who came from a Cheshire landowning family, was a groom of the privy chamber of Henry VIII. He was caught up in the accusations against Anne Boleyn, tried for treason and executed with the Queen and four others. Historians now think that along with the others he was almost certainly innocent. Willam Brereton was the sixth son of Sir Randle Brereton of Ipstones, Shocklach, & Malpas, Knight Chamberlain of Chester, … - Mark Smeaton
Mark Smeaton (ex. 17 May 1536) was one of four men executed for alleged adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn. Smeaton was a handsome musician and dancer in the queen's household, Smeaton was famed for his talents as a singer. He could play the lute, virginals and the organ. His date of birth is not known, but he was probably in his early twenties when he died. Possibly of Flemish origin, the name Smeaton could be derived from the surnames de Smet or de Smedt. - John Amery
John Amery was a British fascist who proposed to Hitler the forming of a British volunteer force (which subsequently became the British Free Corps), made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany. He was executed for treason after the war. He should not be confused with Jean Améry, an Austrian writer and close contemporary, who was a victim of Nazi Germany. - Michel Ney
Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, Prince of the Moskowa (January 10 1769 - December 7 1815), known as "Le Rougeaud" ("red faced" or "ruddy") by his men and "le Brave des Braves" ("the bravest of the brave") was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I. - William Watson
William Watson (c. April 23, 1559 - December 9, 1603), English conspirator, was a native of the north of England. In 1586 he became a Roman Catholic priest in France, and during the concluding years of Elizabeth's reign he paid several visits to England; he was imprisoned and tortured more than once. He became prominent as a champion of the secular priests in their dispute with the Jesuits, … - William Gibson
Blessed William Gibson (died 29 November, 1596) was martyred by Protestants at York for professing the Catholic faith. He was from Ripon, Yorkshire. - Genrikh Yagoda
Genrikh Grigor'evich Yagoda (born Yenokh (Enoch) Gershonovich Ieguda ; ; 1891 - March 15 1938) was the head of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, from 1934 to 1936. Yagoda was born in Rybinsk in a Jewish family, and joined the Bolsheviks in 1907. After the October Revolution of 1917, he rose through the ranks of the "Cheka" (the NKVD's predecessor), becoming Felix Dzerzhinsky's second deputy in September 1923. - Everard Digby
Sir Everard Digby (May 16 1578 - January 30 1606) was one of those involved in the abortive 1605 Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I of England and Members of the Parliament of England. A son of Everard Digby Senior of Stoke Dry, Rutland, he came from a Protestant family. In 1596, he married Mary Mulsho, who also was from a strongly Protestant family. However, about 1599, he was introduced to a Jesuit priest. - Kett'S Rebellion
Kett's Rebellion was a revolt beginning in July 1549 instigated by Robert Kett (or Ket) of Wymondham, Norfolk. Robert Kett (b. 1492) himself had been a tanner and owned the manor of Wymondham in Norfolk making him a wealthy man. - Jozef Tiso
Monsignor Jozef Tiso was a fascist Slovak politician of the SPP, Roman Catholic priest who became a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament, a member of the Czechoslovak government, and finally the President of Independent Slovak Republic from 1939-1945, allied with Nazi Germany. After the end of World War II, Tiso was hanged by Czechoslovak authorities. - Henry Grey 1st Duke of Suffolk
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk (c.1515 - February 23, 1554), known as the Marquess of Dorset between 1530 and 1551, was an English nobleman of the Tudor period and the father of Lady Jane Grey. - Nicholas Carew
Sir Nicholas Carew was an English courtier and statesman during the reign of Henry VIII. He was executed for his alleged part in the Exeter Conspiracy. - Thomas Wintour
Thomas Wintour (also spelt "Winter") (1571 (although some accounts say 1572) - January 31, 1606), was one of the principal Catholic conspirators in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I of England and Members of Parliament. His brother Robert Wintour was also a prominent member of the conspiracy. He was married to Elizabeth Catesby, the sister of yet another of the leading members of the conspiracy, Robert Catesby.
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