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Alexander Gooch and Alice Driver
Alexander Gooch and Alice Driver (both died 4 November 1558) were natives of the area around Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, who were arrested, put to an inquisition and burned at the stake in Ipswich for their adherence to the protestant faith, as part of the Marian persecutions. Both are commemorated among the Ipswich Martyrs. BackgroundAlexander Gooch, of Woodbridge, was a weaver who had become a believer in the reformed faith. He refused to admit that the Pope was the supreme head of the Church and refused to receive the Mass. In consequence, he had been obliged to flee from his home in Woodbridge and go into hiding. He was pursued by a Justice named Noone. Alice Driver, born around 1528, was a married woman of Grundisburgh (a village close by Woodbridge) who had grown up as a country girl and had often driven her father's plough before she married Edward Driver of that village. She also came to the attention of Justice Noone, for she had obtained an English Bible and begun to read it. She had come to believe that the Holy Communion as it was administered in the Roman Mass was an idolatrous institution and contrary to the teachings of Christ. Therefore, she had probably ceased to attend church and may have been brought to Noone's attention by the priest of Grundisburgh. The arrestJustice Noone went to Grundisburgh with a body of men in search of Alexander Gooch, who was in hiding in Alice Driver's house. Hearing that the justice and his men were coming, Gooch and Driver hid themselves in a haystack, but their pursuers stuck pitchforks into the hay and discovered them. Gooch and Driver were captured and taken to the gaol at Melton, a village adjacent to Woodbridge. They remained there for a time, before being taken to Bury St Edmunds to attend the Assizes held at the feast of St James. First examinationAlice Driver showed herself to be a person of extraordinary courage and forthright speech. She was brought before Sir Clement Heigham, M.P. for Ipswich and Speaker of the House of Commons, who had been concerned also in the burning at Ipswich of Agnes Potten and Joan Trunchfield two years previously. Before him, she compared Queen Mary to Jezebel. Sir Clement immediately ordered that her ears should be cut off in punishment, but even that did not appear to subdue her spirits but rather increased her determination, and she was sent back to Melton Gaol. Alice Driver's examination (extract)In Ipswich she was taken to the judgement hall to be examined by Dr Spenser, Chancellor of Norwich. The Inquisition proceeded as follows, when Alice Driver smiled as she was brought in: Alice Driver's last statementBefore her condemnation, her final statement was as follows:
Execution in IpswichThe execution began at 7.00a.m. on 4 November 1558 (a fortnight before the death of Queen Mary on 18 November), when Alexander Gooch and Alice Driver were taken to the Cornhill, Ipswich, where the stake was set up. Many people were assembled, including a considerable number whose sympathies were with the victims, and who supported them with demonstrations of affection and pity. The two knelt on a broom faggot together to say their prayers, and to sing psalms together, until Richard Smart, one of the two Bailiffs of the Borough, roughly told them to "have done". Their request to have more time in which to prepare themselves was refused. The Sheriff, Sir Henry Dowell, then commanded that they should be tied to the stake. A heavy chain was fastened around Alice Driver's neck, at which she said, "Oh! Here is a goodly neckerchief; blessed be God for it." Then various people came up from the crowd and shook hands with them. This annoyed the Sheriff so much that he ordered them to be arrested, whereupon many others from the crowd ran to the stake to do the same, so that he was obliged to leave them all alone. The broom was then lit, and the execution proceeded. Sources
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