Born in Yorkshire, William Freeman was ordained priest at Rheims in 1587. At the beginning of 1589 he was sent to serve with four other priests on the English mission. The ship’s crew planned ot murder them all but the priests drove them below deck and forced on to land them at Gravesend.

Freeman made his way to Warwickshire and Worcestershire. For 4 years he was an itinerant missioner, ‘travelling ordinarily on foot to comfort the meaner sort in weariness of body and sundry perils’; later, for two years, he passed as a servant to Mrs Sheldon of Beoley, near Redditch, and tutor to her son.

In 1595 he was arrested at Alvechurch. Lacking firm evidence that Freeman was a priest he was threatened with torture to make him confess, but he refused to cooperate. However in prison Freeman, revealed himself to be a priest when he heard the confession of a fellow-prisoner and gave absolution. On this evidence Freeman was tried and found guilty of high treason.  He was executed at Warwick on 13th August 1595.

Andrew Boardman, vicar of St Mary’s Warwick, had been present at the arrest of Freeman. He visited him in prison on the day of the execution, and asked for forgiveness, explaining he acted only for benefit of ‘prince and county’. Freeman responded “I find no fault in you’. After the execution, at supper that night, Boardman was asked what he thought of Freeman and he replied that he thought his soul was in heaven.

Blessed WIlliam's memorial is kept on 13th August.

Father,
through the blood of a martyr
you transformed Blessed William Freeman;
he crowned a life of service
by witnessing to you by his own death.
By his prayers keep each of us loyal to the faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

• A memorial room dedicated to Blessed William and the othre martyrs of Warwick is maintained at the Catholic Church of St Mary Immaculate, Warwick.
• The Anglican church of St Mary, Warwick is of great interest and well worth a visit, as too is the  medieval  Lord Leycester Hospital, established by the United Guild of the Holy Trinity and St George during the 12th and 14th centuries.

Photographs (c) 2020, 2026. Allen Morris

Detail of print by Margaret Rope depicitng English Catholic Martyrs.

The (now) Anglican church of St Mary, Warwick.

The Lord Leycester Hospital