KS3 > The Reformation > MPs > Alexander Barlow
Alexander Barlow came to prominence when his sister married Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby. This connection helped him gain his Parliamentary seat in Wigan.
Despite his election to one of Edward’s Parliaments, Barlow was a determined Catholic. He remained so after Mary I’s death, when he wrote to a Catholic bishop offering his obedience. He had a number of prominent Catholic friends in Lancashire.
Barlow managed to avoid persecution for his beliefs largely thanks to his important brother-in-law, but when Edward Stanley died Barlow came under more scrutiny. He was imprisoned in 1583, and he died soon after, either in prison or on parole.
His family remained Catholic. His son, also Alexander, outwardly conformed to the Protestant faith but died a ‘true and perfect’ Catholic. One of his daughters became a nun abroad.
For many years Barlow was in a business partnership with his neighbour, Edmund Trafford. Trafford was a committed Protestant and was called ‘a most bitter enemy of the Catholics’, but he remained on good terms with Barlow.