Who was Robert Ludlam...

The RLT is part of Saint Benedict Catholic School & Performing Arts College. It was decided that the Theatre would be named after a local Catholic Priest called Robert Ludlam, martyred in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

He was born around 1551, in Derbyshire. His father was a yeoman. He matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, in 1575, and remained there for two or three years, but left without taking a degree. He was admitted to the English College at Rheims on 25 November 1580, and the following September, he was ordained as a priest. He set out for England on 30 April 1582.

Little is known of his ministry in England. An unnamed source, quoted in Hayward,[3] says that he was a very mild man, did much good in the country; for that he did much travel, and was beloved.

On 12 July 1588, Robert Ludlam and fellow priest Nicholas Garlick were arrested at Padley, home of Catholic recusant, John Fitzherbert. The raid was made for the purpose of arresting Fitzherbert; the finding of two priests was an unexpected bonus.

In Derby Gaol, Ludlam and Garlick met with another priest, Richard Simpson, who had been earlier condemned to death but had been granted a reprieve. The three priests were tried on 23 July 1588, were found guilty of treason, and were sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. The sentence was carried out the next day, at St. Mary's Bridge, in Derby.

Ludlam was the last of the three to be executed. His last words, and the only words of his that are recorded, were Venite benedicti Dei (Come, you blessed of God"), which he uttered just before he was thrown off the ladder.