Latimer, Hugh c.1485-1555
English Protestant reformer

Born in Thurcaston, Leicestershire, he was sent to Cambridge. A Roman Catholic, he was elected a Fellow of Clare College in 1510, and in 1522 was appointed a university preacher. Converted to Protestantism, he was one of the divines appointed to examine the lawfulness of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. He declared on the King's side, and was made chaplain to Anne Boleyn and rector of West Kington in Wiltshire. In 1535 he was appointed Bishop of Worcester and at the opening of Convocation in June 1536 preached two powerful sermons in favour of the Reformation. He opposed Henry's Six Articles, for which he was imprisoned in 1536, 1546 and 1553. At Edward VI's accession he declined to resume his episcopal functions, but devoted himself to preaching and good works. Under Mary I he was found guilty of heresy, with Nicholas Ridley and Thomas Cranmer, and on 16 October 1555 was burned with Ridley opposite Balliol College.

Bibliography: H S Darby, Hugh Latimer (1953)