Richard Herst (Hurst) (died 29 August 1628) 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 ...

recusant layman. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.

Life

Herst is thought to have been born at Broughton, near

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...

, England, where he was a well-to-do

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, farming his own land. He was arrested while out ploughing his fields."The Lancaster Martyrs", Lancaster Castle
/ref> As he was a recusant, Norcross, a pursuivant, was sent by the Bishop of Chester to arrest him. The pursuivants had a fracas with Hurst's servants, in the course of which one of the pursuivant's men, by name Dewhurst, in running over a ploughed field, fell and broke his leg. The wound mortified and proved fatal, and before his death Dewhurst made a solemn oath that his injury was the result of an accident. Nevertheless Hurst was indicted for murder, as the government wished at that time to make severe examples of recusants.Brown, C.F. Wemyss. "Richard Hurst." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 15 Jan. 2014
/ref> Through Hurst's friends a petition was sent to King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

, also supported by Queen Henrietta Maria. No evidence contradicting Dewhurst's dying declaration having been adduced, the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

were unwilling to convict; but the foreman of the jury was told by the judge, in the house of the latter, that the government was determined to get a conviction, that a murder had been committed, and that the jury must bring in a verdict of guilty. Hurst was convicted and sentenced to death; on the next day, being commanded to hear a sermon at the Anglican church, he refused and was dragged by the legs for some distance to the church, where he put his fingers in his ears so as not to hear the sermon. At the gallows he was informed that his life would be spared if he would swear allegiance to the king, but as the oath contained passages to which he objected, he refused and was at once executed. He was executed at Lancaster.

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: ** Joseph Gillow, ''Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.'', s.v.; **____, ''Lancashire Recusants'', in manuscript; ** Richard Challoner, ''Memoirs'', II (Edinburgh, 1878) 97-101; **''A True and Exact Relation of the Death of Two Catholiks at Lancaster'', 1628 (London, 1737), a rare tract; ** Henry Foley in ''Stonyhurst Magazine'' No. XX, 112; ** Charles Dodd-Tierney, ''Cath. Hist.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Herst, Richard 1628 deaths English beatified people 17th-century venerated Christians People from Broughton, Lancashire Year of birth unknown One Hundred and Seven Martyrs of England and Wales