On this date in 1610, the Catholic priest George Napier (or Napper, or Nappier) was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Oxford, having said Mass that very morning.
A son of Oxford himself who went abroad to France for ordination in his outlawed faith, Napier cut a fairly typical martyrology for the Catholic clergy. He was caught red-handed with the implements of the Roman church, refused to avow the supremacy of the English crown, and aggravated his offense by converting a fellow-prisoner to Catholicism.
This unfortunate has made headlines recently around the fourth centennial of his martyrdom, for which occasion a pilgrimage of Catholic faithful unveiled a plaque in Nappier’s honor at Oxford Castle.

Archbishop Bernard Longley blessing on Oct. 23, 2010 the marker honoring George Napier. Images on this page (cc) Joseph Shaw.
On this day..
- 1801: Hyacinth Moise, Haitian Revolution general
- 1716: Maria of Curacao, slave rebel
- 1773: Eva Faschaunerin, the last tortured in Austria
- 1641: Maren Splids, Jutland witch
- 1940: Julian Zugazagoitia, Minister of the Interior to republican Spain
- 1945: Charles Ford Silliman, suicide pact?
- 2011: Luo Yaping, "land granny"
- 1942: Eddie Leonski, the Brownout Strangler
- 1848: Robert Blum, German democrat
- 1842: Stephen Brennan, desperate bushranger
- Themed Set: Bushrangers
- 1944: Georges Suarez, collaborationist editor
- 2008: The Bali Bombers
- 1911: Charles Justice