Blessed Richard Langhorne

detail of a portrait of Blessed Richard Langhorne, artist unknown; taken from the book 'A Biographical History of England: from Egbert the Great to the Revolution' by James Granger, 1824; swiped from Wikimedia Commons Memorial

14 July

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Third son of William Langhorne of the Inner Temple, London, England, and Lettice, daughter of Eustace Needham of Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, England. Richard followed his father into the law, being admitted to the Inner Temple in November 1646, and passing the bar in 1654. He married Dorothy Legatt of Havering, Essex, England, a Protestant Christian; they lived on Shire Lane in London, had two sons, Charles and Francis, both of whom became priests. Part of Richard’s work was to advise the local Jesuits on legal and financial matters, which would come back to haunt him.

Being Catholic, Richard was arrested on 15 June 1667, suspected of involvement in the great fire of London in September 1666, but was released. He was arrested again on 7 October 1678 and lodged in solitary confinement in Newgate Prison for eight months on suspicion of involvement in the Popish Plot of Titus Oates. Though he any denied knowledge of any such thing, on 14 June 1679 he was found guilty of conspiring with the Jesuits to burn London, and sentenced to death. Martyr.