Blessed Thomas Whitbread (alias Harcourt) (born in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, 1618; executed at Tyburn

Tyburn

Tyburn is a former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution.Tyburn may also refer to:* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London...

, 30 June 1679) was an English Jesuit missionary, wrongly convicted of conspiracy to murder Charles II of England

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

. He was beatified in 1929.

Life

He was educated at St. Omer's, and entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 7 September 1635. Coming upon the English mission in 1647, he worked for more than thirty years, mostly in the eastern counties. On 8 December 1652, he was professed of the four vows. Twice he was superior of the Suffolk District, once of the Lincolnshire District, and finally in 1678 he was declared provincial. In this capacity he refused to admit Titus Oates

Titus Oates

Titus Oates was an English perjurer who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II.-Early life:...

 as member of the Society, and shortly afterwards the Popish Plot

Popish Plot

The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...

 was fabricated.

Whitbread was arrested in London on Michaelmas Day, 1678, but was so ill that he could not be moved to Newgate

Newgate

Newgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...

 till three months later. He was first indicted at the Old Bailey

Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...

, 17 December 1678, but, the evidence against him and his companions breaking down, he was remanded and kept in prison till 13 June 1679; later, he was again indicted, and with four others was found guilty on the perjured evidence of Oates, William Bedloe

William Bedloe

William Bedloe was an English fraudster and informer, born at Chepstow.He appears to have been well educated; he was certainly clever, and after moving to London in 1670 he became acquainted with some Jesuits and was occasionally employed by them...

 and Stephen Dugdale

Stephen Dugdale

Stephen Dugdale was an informer, and self-proclaimed discoverer of parts of the Popish Plot . He perjured himself on numerous occasions, giving false testimony.-Life:...

 and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. The others executed with him were John Fenwick

John Fenwick (Jesuit)

Blessed John Fenwick, real surname Caldwell was an English Jesuit, executed at the time of the fabricated Popish Plot. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.-Life:...

, John Gavan

John Gavan

Blessed John Gavan was an English Jesuit and victim of the Popish Plot, wrongfully executed for conspiracy to murder Charles II. He was beatified in 1929.- Life :...

, William Harcourt and Anthony Turner

Anthony Turner (martyr)

Blessed Anthony Turner was an English Jesuit and victim of the Popish Plot, executed for conspiracy to murder Charles II. He was beatified in 1929.- LIfe :...

. After the execution his remains were buried in St. Giles's in the Fields.

Works

Whitbread wrote "Devout Elevation of the Soul to God" and two short poems, "To Death" and "To his Soul", which are printed in "The Remonstrance of Piety and Innocence".