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George Marsh was a Protestant martyr born in the parish of Deane near Bolton in 1515. He died in Boughton, Chester, on 24 April 1555 as a result of the Marian Persecutions carried out against Protestant Reformers and other dissenters during the reign of Mary I of England. His death is recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Life

George Marsh was born and lived most of his life in the parish of Deane, near Bolton. He was a farmer and married at the age of twenty-five. After his wife's death he left his children in the care of his parents and entered Cambridge University, where he associated with advocates of the reformed faith and in particular Lawrence Saunders. He became curate to Saunders at the church of All Hallows Bread Street in the City of London. He was said to be a tall man who had a clever way with words and a popular preacher. He was for a time employed by the king, but fell out of favour during the reign of Queen Mary I. After Saunders was arrested George Marsh went north and continued preaching the Protestant faith in the parishes of Deane, Eccles and elsewhere in Lancashire.

A warrant was issued for Marsh's arrest by Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby. Justice Barton of Smithills Hall in Bolton sent servants to arrest him at his mother's house, but Marsh gave himself up at the hall. After being "examined" at Smithills, according to local tradition, Marsh stamped his foot so hard to re-affirm his faith that a footprint was left in the stone floor. Marsh was questioned at Lathom House by the Earl of Derby and was sent to Lancaster Gaol before being moved to the gaol at Northgate, Chester. Marsh's imprisonment is documented in Foxe's Actes and Monuments. He stood trial under George Cotes in the Lady Chapel of Chester Cathedral. Marsh refused to convert to Roman Catholicism, despite being given one last chance while being tied to the stake at which he was about to be burned. Marsh's follower and brother-in-law Geoffrey Hurst, a Shakerley nail maker, was also imprisoned at Lancaster but was saved from execution by Queen Mary's death.

Death

George Marsh was executed in April 1555 on the north side of the road in Boughton, about a mile from Chester city centre. He was sentenced to be burned to death at the stake at the traditional execution ground. After his death his ashes were collected by his friends and buried in the nearby Saint Giles Cemetery.

There is no grave marker in the cemetery, just a brief footnote on an inscription:

St Giles Cemetery. Here stood the leper hospital and chapel of St Giles. Founded early in the 12th century and endowed by successive Norman earls of Chester they remained in constant use until 1643. When defensive measures during the siege of Chester necessitated the demolition of buildings outside the city walls. The cemetery remained to mark the site and in time the little village of Spital Boughton clustered around it. In 1644 the royalist defenders suffered great loss of life in a gallant sortie in Boughton and many of the fallen were buried here. It was also used for victims of the plagues which ravaged the city in the 16th and 17th centuries. Being extra parochial the site was granted to the corporation by Charles II in 1685. As a burial ground and through for a period in the charge of St Johns parish. It remains in their hands. When Protestant martyr George Marsh was burned at the stake on gallows hill close by his ashes were collected by his friends and buried here. The last burial took place in 1854.

Memorials

There are two memorials to George Marsh at St Mary's Church in Deane. The base of a memorial cross in the churchyard is said to have been the base of an ancient Saxon cross from which early Christian preachers taught. It originally stood half a mile to the west of the church on New York Road. Inscriptions on its base record his martyrdom and the erection of the memorial in 1893. A window was dedicated to him in 1897 depicting Faith, Charity and Hope.

George Marsh has two memorials in Chester, one is in St John the Baptist's Church and the other is a granite obelisk erected in 1888 by the side of a road in Boughton, which has the following inscription:

George Marsh born Dean Co. Lancaster. To the memory of George Marsh martyr who was burned to death near this spot for the truth sake April 24th 1555.

Legacy and influence

Protestants in Chester often hold a gathering outside Chester Town Hall around April 24th to commemorate the life and death of George Marsh. The martyr is also the subject of a new documentary on his life and death.

References

1. ^ Freeman, Thomas S. (2004), "Marsh, George (c.1515–1555)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, retrieved 13 May 2013 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
2. ^ George Marsh, deaneparish.co.uk, retrieved 7 January 2010
3. Sanders, protestantoldpaths.org, retrieved 13 January 2010
4. George Marsh of Chester, tyndale.org, retrieved 13 January 2010
5. 279. George Marsh, exclassics.com, retrieved 12 May 2013
6. George Marsh, collected by John Foxe, 1563 (2001), "1507 Q. Mary. The trouble and examinations of George Marsh, Martyr", University of Sheffield http://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=text&gototype=modern&edition=1576&pageid=1507, retrieved 12 May 2013 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. Steve Howe / B&W Picture Place (1990–2012), "9. The Church of St. John the Baptist part II", chesterwalls.info http://www.chesterwalls.info/stjohn2.html, retrieved 12 May 2013 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. "George Marsh, martyr", hrionline.ac.uk http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/main/11_1563_1122.jsp, retrieved 7 January 2010 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
9. Historic England. "George Marsh Memorial in St Mary's churchyard (1388087)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |separator= ignored (help)
10. Historic England. "Obelisk cenotaph to George Marsh, martyr, Boughton (1375707)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |separator= ignored (help)
11. http://www.deanechurch.co.uk/pg/p199.asp

External links

• Petrosomatoglyph
• Christian Heritage

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from January 2012
• 1515 births
• 1555 deaths
• People executed under Mary I of England
• 16th-century Protestant martyrs
• People from Bolton
• History of Bolton
• 16th-century English people
• British people executed by burning
• People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning