Kerby (Ipswich martyr) facts for kids

Kerby (d. Ipswich, 1546), whose Christian name is not known, was a man condemned by the Justices and executed by burning at the stake in Ipswich, Suffolk, for his Protestant beliefs, along with Roger Clarke. He is numbered among the Ipswich Martyrs. He died for denying the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation of the Host.

This was the first recorded execution by burning in Ipswich for such a cause, but was followed by several others over the ensuing twelve years, so that by the death of Queen Mary in 1558 there are said to have been seventy-seven persons in Ipswich under condemnation, who were afterwards released. Ipswich had witnessed the arrest of Thomas Bilney in May 1527 and was the birthplace and childhood home of Thomas Wolsey.

Imprisonment of Messrs. Kerby and Roger

Kerby was one of two men, the other surnamed Roger, who stood accused under the terms of the Act of Six Articles of not accepting the doctrine of transubstantiation. The two were imprisoned in the town gaol which was then located in the West Gate, a mediaeval stone and brick structure which stood on the line of the town ramparts very near to the famous pilgrim chapel of Our Lady of Ipswich. Their gaoler was John Bird, a sympathetic man who had already run close to implication under similar charges, and was much later actually accused by the Commissioners. An important figure instrumental in the accusation against Kerby and Roger was one William Foster, a Justice living at Copdock (a little south of Ipswich), who was later very active in the arrests of the martyrs Rowland Taylor, Robert Samuel, Agnes Potten and Joan Trunchfield.

During his imprisonment, Kerby was visited by Robert Wingfield, the young heir of Humphrey Wingfield, with Master Breuss of Wenham.

Kerby was sentenced to be burned in Ipswich, and Roger at Bury St Edmunds.