Blessed Thomas Marshall

Thomas Marshall (the Blessed John Beche), also known as John Beche, (died 1 December 1539) was the last Abbot of Colchester Abbey. Thomas Marshall, commonly known as John Beche, was a member of the Colchester Beche family, who were a dynasty of renowned pewtersmiths in the town. He was educated at Oxford University (probably Gloucester Hall now Worcester College) where he took his degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1515. He then became the twenty-sixth Abbot of St. Werburgh's, Chester (now Chester Cathedral) and went on to become Abbot of St. John the Baptist's, Colchester on 10 June 1530. On 30 March 1534, Abbot Beche took his seat in the House of Lords. In that year, the Act of Supremacy was passed by which Henry VIII made himself Head of the Church in England, and on 7 July he, the Prior, and the community of 14, signed their agreement to the Act. Many clergymen considered the break with Rome of a temporary nature, and that it was possible to distinguish between the king as head of the Church in temporal matters, though not in matters spiritual. The Abbot was a strong opponent of the King's new policy, and a friend and admirer of Thomas More and John Fisher. Following the execution of three Carthusian priors, Fisher and More during 1535, his expressions of reverence for them was reported to the authorities. In November, 1538, Beche denied the legal right of Henry VIII's royal commission to confiscate his abbey. He was then committed to the Tower of London on a charge of treason; despite being discharged, he was rearrested and taken back to Colchester. The Abbot's servant said that his master denied that the king could suppress the Abbey because it was above the yearly value of 300 marks specified in the statute.