On 5 December 1640, John Atherton was executed for committing buggery, the legal term then in use for homosexual activity between men, which had been formally made illegal and punishable by death in England and Wales in 1533 and extended to Ireland in 1634.

Atherton began his career in the Anglican Church in Ireland in 1630 and was an important figure in the extension of the Buggery Act to the country. A protégé of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1636, Atherton was appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore through his influence. However, this brought him into direct conflict with Strafford’s rival Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork.

In early 1640, Atherton was accused of having committed buggery with his steward and tithe proctor John Childe. Initially, the Church attempted to supress the accusations to prevent the case from causing a major scandal and coming to trial, but they soon relented due to public outrage and both men were found guilty and sentenced to death. Atherton was first imprisoned in Cork gaol where he was jeered at by the crowds that had gathered to hear the verdict. He was then taken to Dublin Castle where he was executed by hanging.

It is unknown if the accusations had been invented as part of a conspiracy by the Earl of Cork or others unhappy with Atherton’s actions as bishop (he had confiscated land from wealthy landowners in the name of the Church) or if they were based on truth. Accusing men of pursuing same-sex relationships with other men was a way for rivals to slander one another during the early modern period, and alleging that Atherton, a man who had helped to introduce an act that made male homosexuality punishable by death, had had sexual relations with Childe, a man responsible for the collection of taxes on newly gained Church land, could have provided an opportunity their rivals could not possibly ignore.

Atherton publicly declared his innocence until his death, but accounts published after the execution and written by Nicholas Barnard, Dean of Ardagh, who had served as his confessor in the days leading up to the hanging, were arranged to imply that he had admitted to what was then known as sodomy.

This book, containing an account of Atherton’s confession and burial makes barely concealed references to sodomy, remarking ‘His reading of naughty books (of which he named some and wished they were burned), viewing of immodest pictures, frequenting playes, Drunkennesse &c were causes and inticements to these foule acts’ and that ‘about three weeks before the complaint was put in against him in Parliament, the man who had been the corrupter of him in his youth… came casually out of England… and visited him, the sight of whom did so affright him… and his Conscience apprehended him…’. These comments, taken in conjunction with references to passages from the Letters of St Paul and the flight of Lot from Sodom help to make clear that Barnard was referring to same-sex activity.

The account by Barnard must be viewed with caution, however. As one of increasing numbers of Protestant ministers in Catholic Ireland, he had to dispel such a scandal as quickly as possible. If Atherton had not been brought to trial, rumours about his behaviour, truthful or not, would likely have continued to circulate, and portraying him as a sinner who had repented while awaiting his execution was a convenient way for the Church to try to save face. In concluding the account, Barnard specifically makes reference to such a decision, ‘A Church ought not to be judged by the lives of a few Professors, but by the doctrine professed… let him have his last request granted, that the dishonour may be buried with him.’