Thomas Tichborne (1567 – 20 April 1602) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest. He is regarded as a Catholic martyr.

Life

Born at

Hartley Mauditt Hartley Mauditt is an abandoned village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is south of the village of East Worldham, Hampshire, East Worldham, and southeast of Alton, Hampshire, Alton, just east of the B3006 road. It is i ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, in 1567, Thomas was a younger son of Nicholas Tichborne and Mary Myll.''A History of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight''
Vol. 2, (Herbert Arthur Doubleday, William Page, eds.) A. Constable, limited, 1903, p. 84 Nicholas died in Winchester Gaol about 1588/9 and was brother to Peter Tichborne, father of

Chidiock Tichborne Chidiock Tichborne (after 24 August 1562 – 20 September 1586), erroneously referred to as Charles, was an English conspirator and poet. Life Tichborne was born in Southampton sometime after 24 August 1562Phillimore, Hampshire Parish Records, ...

. Nicolas and Peter were grandsons of John Tichborne of Tichborne and Margaret Martin from whom the Tichborne baronets are also descended. He was educated at

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

(1584–87) and Rome, where he was ordained on Ascension Day, 17 May 1592. Returning to England on 10 March 1594, he worked in

. There he escaped apprehension by the authorities until the early part of 1597.Burton, Edwin. "Ven. Thomas Tichborne." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 8 October 2021 He was sent a prisoner to the

Gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

in London, but in the autumn of 1598 was helped to escape by his brother, Nicholas Tichborne, and Thomas Hackshott, who were both executed shortly afterwards. Betrayed by Atkinson, an apostate priest, he was re-arrested and on 17 April 1602, was brought to trial with Robert Watkinson (a young Yorkshire man who had been educated at Rome and ordained priest at Douai a month before) and James Duckett, a London bookseller. On 20 April he was executed at

Tyburn Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in London, Middlesex, England, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. Tyburn took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne ...

with Watkinson and Francis Page, S.J. The last named was a convert, of a Middlesex family though born in Antwerp. He had been ordained at Douai in 1600 and received into the Society of Jesus while a prisoner in Newgate. Tichborne was in the last stages of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

when he was executed.

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **

Richard Challoner Richard Challoner (29 September 1691 – 12 January 1781) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of the London District during the greater part of the 18th century, and as Titular Bishop of Doberus. In 1738, he publishe ...

, ''Memoirs of Missionary Priests'' (London, 1741–2); ** Henry Foley, ''Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus'', I (London, 1877); **Pollen, ''Acts of the English Martyrs'' (London, 1901); **____, ''Unpublished documents relating to the English Martyrs'' in Cath. Rec. Soc., V (London, 1908); **Dasent, ''Acts of the Privy Council, 1695-7'' (London, 1902); {{DEFAULTSORT:Tichborne, Thomas 1567 births 1602 deaths 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests English beatified people 17th-century venerated Christians People executed under Elizabeth I 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests People from East Hampshire District Executed people from Hampshire

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Venerable martyrs of England and Wales