LOL 54 Not for All Salisbury

On 24th March 1556, during the reign of Bloody Mary, three Protestant men were burned at the stake in Salisbury. Their crime was to preach against the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The three men, farmer John Maundrell, tailor William Coberley and stonemason John Spicer were sentenced to death by the feared and unscrupulous Bishop of Salisbury, John Capon.

Maundrell had been in trouble before for speaking out against holy water and holy bread, for which his punishment had been to walk around the market place in Devizes wearing a white sheet and carrying a lighted candle.

As he was lead to his death Maundrell was asked “Will you recant your faith for a Queen’s pardon”? He replied with the immortal words “Not for all Salisbury”, words which are proudly worn on their collarettes by the brethren of LOL 54, Wiltshire.