St Bartholomew's Hospital - Marian Martyrs
{In gilded letters around and below the granite arch:}
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
The noble army of martyrs praise Thee!
On the main tablet:
Within a few feet of this spot,
John Rogers,
John Bradford,
John Philpot,
and other servants of God, suffered death by fire for the faith of Christ, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557.
On the small brass plaque below:
Erected 1870 by the Protestant Alliance London.
(See: London Remembers)
Being just outside the city walls this was considered a suitable spot for executions. Here more than 60 Protestants were burned at the stake, mainly in the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558) hence they are known as the Marian Martyrs. All their names are recorded on a panel at St James Church, Clerkenwell.
Royal Chaplain John Rogers His wife and Children
> Britannica Article)
John Rogers: the compiler of the first authorised English Bible, the pioneer of the English Reformation, and its first martyr.
(See: WikiTree)
Following the accession of Mary I, he was ordered to stay confined to his house as a "seditious preacher". He was deprived of the Prebend of St Pancras, and of the income from his living at St Sepulchre.
Although he had opportunities to flee to continental Europe, he did not take advantage of them. After five months of house arrest, he was sent to Newgate. After the re-enactment of laws allowing the execution of heretics, he was tried as a heretic in January 1555, and condemned on 29 January 1555. He asked to be allowed to speak to his wife but this request was denied. John Rogers [15th Great Grandfather] was burnt at the stake at Smithfield, London on 4 February 1555, becoming the first of the Protestant martyrs of the reign of Mary I. His wife and all his children were present at his execution. Henry Machyn’s diary states that there was a ”grett compene [company] of the gard” at his execution.
John Rogers' wife and his oldest son Daniel retrieved letters and papers from his prison cell after his death.
Ancestral Chain: John ROGERS martyr- b.1507, John ROGERS- b.1538, Richard ROGERS- b., John R. ROGERS Immigrant- b.1617, Ann ROGERS- b.Abt 1628, Mary HUDSON- b.1644, Katherine HODGES- b.1664, Mary DELAND-b.1683, Robert ROUNDY- b.1704, John ROUNDY- b.1726, Uriah ROUNDY- b.1756, Shadrach ROUNDY- b.1789, Almeda Sophia ROUNDY- b.1829, Charles PARKER- b.1853, Laura Elizabeth PARKER- b.1889, Kirt DeMar WOOD- b.1923, Lark, TR.
