Simon Lowe, alias Fyfield (alive by 1522, died 1578), was a rich English merchant tailor in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, and also a landowner in several counties, briefly one of the members of the

House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England ...

representing two boroughs in other parts of England. Lowe owned property on London Bridge from 1536 and lived there in 1576. He was Warden of the

Merchant Taylors' Company ] The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...

for the year 1549-50, and was a Member of Parliament, Member (MP) of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

for

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in ...

in October 1553 and New Shoreham in November 1554. He was Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company during the reign of Queen Mary and one of the jurors who acquitted

Sir Nicholas Throckmorton Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (or Throgmorton) (c. 1515/151612 February 1571) was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and later Scotland, and played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I of Englan ...

in 1554: the court had been openly hostile to Throckmorton, and as a result of the unexpected verdict it fined and imprisoned the jury. He was a mourner at the funeral of

Maurice Griffith Maurice Griffith (or Griffin; c. 1507 – 20 November 1558) was a Welshman who became Bishop of Rochester. Biography Little is known of his birth but it is thought to have been in the Caernarfon area around 1507. He was a friar at Blackfriars, ...

, Bishop of Rochester and Rector of

St Magnus-the-Martyr St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge, is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London, is part of the Diocese of London and u ...

, when Griffith was interred in the church on 30 November 1558 with much solemnity. With Sir William Petre and Sir William Garrard he was an executor of

's willThomas F. Mayer and Courtney B. Walters (2008) ''The Correspondence of Reginald Pole, IV: a Biographical Companion. The British Isles'', p.231 and, in consequence of this, played a part as an initial trustee in the founding of Friars School, Bangor. Lowe was included in a return of

recusants Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

in the Diocese of Rochester in 1577, but was still buried at St Magnus-the-Martyr on 6 February 1578. Stow refers to his monument in the church.

Family

Simon Lowe had married Margaret Lacy, a daughter of Christopher Lacy (died 1518) of

Brearley Brearley is a surname that may refer to: * David Brearley (1745–1790), delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. * Giles Brearley (born 1955), South Yorkshire local historian * Harry Brearley (1871–1948), British chemist who invented sta ...

, Yorkshire, by 1550. * Timothy Lowe, eldest son (died 1617), was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and was knighted at the Coronation of King James on 23 July 1603. *

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

Sir Thomas Lowe, second son (1550–1623), was Master of the Haberdashers' Company on several occasions, Sheriff of London in 1595/96,

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

in 1604/05, and a Member of Parliament for London. * Blessed John Lowe, youngest son (1553–1586), having originally been a Protestant minister, converted to Roman Catholicism, studied for the priesthood at Douay and Rome and returned to London as a missionary priest. His absence had already been noted; a list of 1581 of "such persons of the Diocese of London as have any children ... beyond the seas" records "John Low son to Margaret Low of the Bridge, absent without licence four years". Having gained 500 converts to the Church of Rome between 1583 and 1586, he was arrested while walking with his mother near London Bridge, committed to

the Clink The Clink was a prison in Southwark, England, which operated from the 12th century until 1780. The prison served the Liberty of the Clink, a local manor area owned by the Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bi ...

, and executed at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern ...

on 8 October 1586.Anstruther, G., ''The Seminary Priests: a dictionary of the secular clergy of England and Wales, 1558-1850'', Vol. 1, pp. 214-5. See also ''The Penal Laws: understanding the era of the eighty-five martyrs'', article by Patrick Barry in ''L'Osservatore Romano'' (Weekly Edition in English), 30 November 1987, p. 8, available a
Penal Laws
/ref> He was beatified in 1987 as one of the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Simon Year of birth missing 1578 deaths English MPs 1553 (Mary I) English MPs 1554–1555