Blessed Robert Widmerpool (1560-1588) Photo by Peter Harding From the painting by Paul Little (1996) which hangs in St Margaret's Church Keyworth, the Catholic parish church for the village of Widmerpool where Blessed Robert was born

Robert Widmerpole (the usual spelling at the time he lived) was a young Catholic aged twenty-eight years when he was executed in Canterbury on 1st October 1588. It was in the Autumn following the defeat of the Spanish Armada during the reign of Elizabeth I when anti-Catholic feeling was running high. Many of the Catholic prisoners in London at that time were taken in groups to regional centres to be executed as a deterrent and a terrifying example to others. They were all executed on treason charges rather than any charge that acknowledged their faith because the state did everything possible to deny their status as martyrs and to 'render them odious in the eyes of the simple' as Cardinal William Allen wrote at the time.

Robert was taken to Canterbury in company with three young priests; Edward Campion from Ludlow (not to be confused with the more famous St Edmund Campion), Robert Wilcox from Chester and Christopher Buxton from Tideswell in Derbyshire. Robert Widmerpole was the last but one to die. Bishop Challoner's "Memoirs of Missionary Priests", taken from contemporary accounts, describes what happened: "… he, with great affection, kissed both the ladder and the rope as the instruments of his martyrdom; and having now the rope about his neck, began to speak to the people, giving God most hearty thanks 'for bringing him so great a glory as that of dying for his faith and truth in the same place where the glorious martyr, Saint Thomas of Canterbury, had shed his blood for the honour of his Divine Majesty'. Some of the people at these words cried, 'Away, away with the traitor' but he, not moved at all with their clamours, looking around him and recommending himself to the prayers of the Catholics, was flung off the ladder, and so happily exchanged this mortal life for immortality."

The documents listing the Catholic martyrs are clear that Robert was a Nottinghamshire man from Widmerpool and we know he was born in 1560, although it has not been possible to find proof of his birth. It is rare to find such proof from Tudor times but there seems no reason to doubt that he was one of the family with the proud name of "Widmerpoles of Widmerpole", a gentry family with an unbroken male line from 1206 to 1732. Robert was not a son of Sir William Widmerpole, head of the family during Robert's life, so he must have been one of the cousins or son of a younger son. He was close enough to the main line of descent to be counted as a gentleman, otherwise it would not have been possible for him to go to Oxford University as he did and to become a tutor in a noble household afterwards. One of the rare pieces of evidence concerning him is an entry in the register of Gloucester Hall, an Oxford College, where he is recorded as a student aged 18 in 1578.

Robert did not graduate. This probably means that he was already a Catholic. To graduate meant taking the Oath of Supremacy with hand on the Bible, swearing that Elizabeth was rightful Governor of the Church in England. But whether Robert was a Catholic by upbringing or by conversion at Oxford, where there were secret but strong Catholic influences, we do not know. All we know for certain is that some time after Oxford Robert took up a post as tutor in the household of the Countess Katharine of Northumberland. The Northumberlands were the Percy family, one of the great noble families of England, with strong Catholic connections and heavily involved in the Northern Rebellion of 1569, the one serious rebellion faced by Elizabeth I.

The husband of the Countess, Earl Henry, spent much time in the 1570's and 80's in the Tower of London where he finally died in 1585 in mysterious circumstances. The Countess Katharine and her family were forbidden to go near their northern estates in case they became a focus for rebellion and their southern home in Robert's time was Petworth House in Sussex. The eldest son was brought up a Protestant under the strict eye of the government but there were seven other sons, so it is likely that Robert was a tutor at Petworth. It is also the likely setting for being drawn into the network of Catholics who secretly met priests at the Channel ports, hid them and escorted them on their journeys.

The laws against Catholics became harsher in the 1580's. In 1581 it was high treason to be 'reconciled to Rome'; in 1585 it was high treason just to be a priest in England and the same for anyone who helped a priest. It was a crime to send your children abroad to be educated … the list goes on. Robert Widmerpole was on of the laypeople caught under the 1585 Act. It seems that a specimen charge was brought against Robert but it is likely that he had helped priests many times and shown sustained courage.

Robert was sent to Marshalsea Prison in London; we do not have any trial details. When he was sent to Canterbury it is most likely that he was already a condemned man. Kent records seem clear that there was no trial there. There is plenty of evidence of other Catholics in prison and we know that despite torture and the harshest conditions, Catholics in prison were able to to give great support to each other, to pray together and to comfort other prisoners too. They had choices; many were offered their freedom if they gave up their faith, but few did so.

Robert Widmerpole and the three priests were executed at Oaten Hill just outside the city walls of Canterbury. There is no sign recalling the event. But then there is little at the village of Widmerpool. The old Elizabethan manor house is completely gone, the church is largely a 19^th century restoration and no one knows what happened to the Widmerpole family tombs.

Robert's memorial, in common with all the martyrs of England and Wales, is his example of courage and faith, sacrifice and witness. We celebrate his example on May 11^th, the feast of the Nottinghamshire Martyrs.