Bl.William Ireland

English martyr falsely accused in the 1678 plot of Titus Oates, a renegade Anglican minister.

Traveling under the name Ironmonger, was arrested along with others and thrown into the
Newgate Prison where he suffered for three months before his trial. Titus Oates testified falsely
that he had been present at the special conference of Jesuits planning the assassination of the king, and it would have succeeded except for a faulty pistol.

Although Ireland could produce many witnesses to prove that he was in Wales at that time, it took only one bribed witness to convict William of high treason and to sentence him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. The execution was postponed by royal order, because King Charles II never believed that the Jesuits were associated with any plot against him. Eventually,
fearing the people's anger, Charles allowed the executions to take place in order to appease the crowd.
At Tyburn William professed his innocence and denied any complicity against the king's life,
then added; "I beg God Almighty to shower down a thousand blessings upon this whole
kingdom."