Hugh Cook Faringdon
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Hugh Cook Faringdon (also known as Hugh Faringdon or Hugh Cook of Faringdon) was appointed Abbot of Reading Abbey in 1520, on the death of Abbot Thomas Worcester.
At first his relationship with King Henry VIII seems to have been supportive. He sat in Parliament from 1523 to 1539 and, in 1530, he signed, with other members of the House of Lords, a letter to the Pope pointing out the evils likely to result from delaying the divorce desired by the King; and, again in 1536, he signed the Articles of Faith which virtually acknowledged the supremacy of the crown over the church. When the commissioners arrived to take the surrender of Reading Abbey, they reported favourably of the Abbot's willingness to conform, but the surrender of the Abbey does not survive, and it is not therefore known whether Faringdon signed it.
In 1539, Faringdon was indicted of high treason. He was tracked down at Bere Court, his manor at Pangbourne, and taken back to Reading where he was executed outside the Abbey Gateway on 14th November.
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Blessed Hugh Faringdon (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07518a.htm)
- Berkshire History: Biography (http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/hfaringdon.html)