What is George Eliot (spy)?
'''George Eliot''' was an [[English people|English]] [[espionage|spy]] during the rule of Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]]. George Eliot is reported to have been a very bad person. He earned his living as a [[Confidence trick|con artist]] (someone who gains the trust of another and then tricks them out of their money). He was well known as a [[rapist]] and suspected of being a [[murder]]er.<ref name=rbhaec>{{cite web |url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/articles/campion_lyford.html |title=The Arrest of St. Edmund Campion |author=Ford, David Nash |year=2011 |work=Royal Berkshire History |publisher=Nash Ford Publishing |accessdate=22 January 2011}}</ref> Eliot became a spy for [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester]]. This was to avoid a [[Indictment|charge]] from the last [[crime]] he committed. Eliot agreed to seek out [[Catholics]] who were not conforming to the rules of the [[state]] because the [[Church of England]] was the official state religion. He would then hand them over to the [[Authority|authorities]] for [[punishment]].<ref name=rbhaec/> At [[Lyford, Oxfordshire|Lyford]] Grange in [[Berkshire]] (now [[Oxfordshire]]), he tracked down the [[Jesuit]] [[priest]], [[Edmund Campion]].<ref>Ted Byfield, ''A Century of Giants, A.D. 1500 to 1600: In an Age of Spiritual Genius, Western Christendom Shatters.'' (Edmonton: Christian History Project, an activity of SEARCH, the Society to Explore and Record Christian History, 2010), p. 325</ref> Eliot called for a [[Judiciary|magistrate]] from [[Abingdon, Oxfordshire|Abingdon]]. He arrested Campion and had him sent to London for trial and execution.<ref name=rbhaec/> ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Eliot, George}} [[Category:British murderers]] [[Category:British rapists]] [[Category:Criminals from London]] [[Category:Spies]] {{bio-stub}}