John Larke

Blessed John Larke (died 7 March 1544) was an English priest and martyr, who was executed during the reign of Henry VIII. He was a personal friend of Thomas More.
Larke has been styled a doctor, but where he received his degree is unknown. He served as rector of St. Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, London, from 30 January 1504, until his resignation in 1542; rector of Woodford, Essex from 18 January 1526, until his resignation in the following April; and rector of Chelsea, to which he was appointed by More, from 19 March 1530 until his arrest. He was indicted on 15 February 1544, with John Ireland (a priest), German Gardiner, and John Heywood. All were condemned, but Heywood recanted on the hurdle and lived to give testimony against Cranmer.
The other three, along with Robert Singleton, a priest whose cause of arrest is unknown, were executed on 7 March 1544. Larke was beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII.
Category:Year of birth missing
Category:1544 deaths
Category:Beatified people
Category:English Roman Catholic priests
Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests
Category:People executed under the Tudors
Category:Tudor clergy
Category:Executed English people
Category:16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
Category:16th-century venerated Christians