Thomas Culpeper Sepulchre-without-Newgate church in London. Queen Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Rochford were both subsequently executed on 13 February 1542. In popular fiction, very little is told about Thomas Culpeper, save his association with King Henry VIII's fifth wife. He is portrayed in several plays and several writings, always closely associated with Catherine. In the book "A Tudor Tragedy; The Life and Times of Catherine Howard", by Lacey Baldwin Smith, the author writes that there were rumours during the time period that Thomas Culpeper and Catherine Howard intended to be married, before Henry VIII set his sights on her. The book
Catherine Murphy (counterfeiter) removed from under her feet and 30 minutes passed before the fire was lit, and thus, she was not actually burned alive. Whatever the case, Catherine Murphy remains the last person to have been sentenced and at least officially executed by the method of burning. In part through the efforts of Sir Benjamin Hammett, who took the execution of Murphy as an example when he criticised this form of punishment, burning as a method of execution was abolished the next year, by the Treason Act 1790. Catherine Murphy (counterfeiter) Catherine Murphy (died 18 March 1789) (also known as "Christian Murphy")