Early life

He was born at Docking, Norfolk

Docking, Norfolk

Docking is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk and contains the highest point in North West Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,150 in 469 households as of the 2001 census....

, in 1558, the eldest son of Christopher Walpole, by Margery, heiress of Richard Beckham of Narford, and was educated at Norwich School

Norwich School (educational institution)

Norwich School is an independent school located in Norwich, United Kingdom. It is one of the oldest schools in the world, with a traceable history to 1096, and is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.It is a fee-paying, co-educational day school and has one of the best...

, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, and Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. Converted to Roman Catholicism by the death of Saint Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion

Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...

, he went by way of Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

 and Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, to Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

, where he arrived, 7 July 1582. On 28 April 1583, he was admitted into the English College, Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, and in October received minor orders. On 2 February 1584, he became a probationer of the Society, and soon after went to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where he continued his studies, chiefly at Pont-à-Mousson. He was ordained subdeacon and deacon at Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

, and priest at Paris, 17 December 1588.

Later life

After being twice imprisoned at Newgate

Newgate

Newgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...

 for religion in 1586, Walpole arrived at Reims, 23 December 1589; he was ordained subdeacon at Laon, 23 September 1589, deacon and priest at Soissons, 17 March and 18 March 1590, was sent on the mission the following 9 April, and landed at Whitby. After acting as chaplain to the Spanish forces in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, suffering imprisonment by the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 at Flushing in 1589, and being moved about to Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, Tournai

Tournai

Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....

, Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

, and Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, he was at last sent on the mission in 1590. He was arrested shortly after landing at Flamborough

Flamborough

Flamborough is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north east of Bridlington town centre on the prominent coastal feature of Flamborough Head. The most prominent man-made feature of the area is Flamborough lighthouse. The headland...

 for the crime of Catholic priesthood, and imprisoned at York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

. The following February he was sent to the Tower, where he was frequently and severely racked. He remained there until, in the spring of 1595, he was sent back to York for trial, where he was hanged, drawn and quartered on 7 April 1595. With him suffered Alexander Rawlins

Alexander Rawlins

-Life:He was born in Worcestershire. After imprisonment for his Catholic beliefs, he went to Reims for seminary training and was ordained priest. He arrived in England as a missioner in April 1590 with Edmund Gennings and Hugh Sewell....

, of the Diocese of Gloucester. He was canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men and women who were executed for treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1535 and 1679...

.