Colchester Martyrs

The Colchester Martyrs were 16th-century English Protestant martyrs. They were executed for heresy in Colchester, Essex, during the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I. Their story is recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

"[O]ne Henry" and his servant were burned at the stake.^[1]

John Lawrence, a priest and former Blackfriar at Sudbury, Suffolk^[2] was burned at the stake.^[3]

Nicholas Chamberlain (or Chamberlaine), a weaver from Coggeshall, Essex was burned at the stake.^[4][5]

Christopher Lister, a husbandman from Dagenham, Essex, John Mace, an apothecary from Colchester, Essex, John Spencer, a weaver from Colchester, Essex, Simon Joyne, a sawyer, Richard Nicol, a weaver from Colchester, Essex and John Hamond, a tanner from Colchester, Essex were burned at the stake.^[4][6]

William Bongeor, Thomas Benhote, William Purchase, Agnes Silverside, Helen Ewring, Elizabeth Folk, William Munt, John Johnson, Alice Munt and Rose Allen were taken to Colchester Castle and burned at the stake.^[7]

Agnes Bongeor, wife of Richard Bongeor, John Kurde, and Margaret (Widow) Thurston were burned at the stake^[8][4]

William Harris, Richard Day and Christian George (female) were burned at the stake.^[4][9]

James Gore died on 7 December 1555 in Colchester prison^[4][10] and John Thurston, who had been taken at Much Bentley, Essex, died in May 1557 in Colchester Castle.^[11]

A monument to these victims of the Marian persecutions is in St Peter's Church on North Hill;^[12] another is in the Colchester Town Hall.^[13]

• List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation