Protestant Martyr.Thomas Higbed was just one of the 286 condemned to die for their religious beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.King Henry VIII is remembered in history for many things; one of these is that he engineered the break away from the Roman Catholic religion in England. His son,who succeeded him, was still a mere boy when he himself died after an uneventful brief reign. But then Henry's daughter became Queen Mary I. She was half-Spanish and a devout Catholic. The greater part of the English peoples were still Catholics at heart but not papists and at first welcomed her accession to the throne. But she was an embittered woman, lonely, neglected and under constant suspicion. She re-enacted the laws by which religious Protestant heretics should die by burning at the stake, in the belief that her actions would endear her to the church in Rome. She became known as "Bloody Mary" and her reign ensured that England would never be a Catholic nation again.
Thomas was not in any way a nobleman and was never in a position to influence the English people. He was simply a local landowner. Essentially, he refused to accept the doctrine of transubstantiation-that in the Holy Communion, it was in fact the body and blood of Jesus Christ that was being celebrated. He was brought before the Consistory Court, together with Thomas Causton, of Rayleigh in Essex, to be examined on his views. He refused to recant and after sentence was passed, he was taken to Newgate Prison until such time as he was escorted by the Sherriff of Essex from Aldgate to Horndon where in the yard behind the Bell Inn, he suffered death by being burnt alive.
A plaque on a wall at the Bell Inn states:
'The just shall live by faith' [Hebrews 10:38]. On 26 March, 1555, Thomas, a gentleman of Horndon House, was burnt at the stake in the courtyard of the Bell Inn for his Protestant faith.

∼A Christian Martyred at Horndon-on-Hill dishonoured on earth but well known in Heaven.

~

He is a Hubbard. Grandfather of Samuel and father to James.