| Honorific Prefix: | Blessed |
| John Roche | |
| Death Date: | 30 August 1588 |
| Feast Day: | 30 August |
| Venerated In: | Roman Catholic Church |
| Birth Place: | Ireland |
| Death Place: | Tyburn, London |
| Titles: | Martyr |
| Beatified Date: | 15 December 1929 |
| Beatified By: | Pope Pius XI |
| Patronage: | sailors, mariners, boatmen |
John Roche (also known as John Neele or Neale) was a Catholic martyr, born in Ireland, who died in London, England on 30 August 1588.[1]
He helped Margaret Ward arrange the escape of Richard Watson from Bridewell Prison when the boatman she had originally asked to help her refused to do so.[2] Roche exchanged clothes with the prisoner and was arrested in his place.[3] Offered his freedom if he would ask Queen Elizabeth I's pardon and promise to attend a Protestant church, he refused, and was hanged at Tyburn, London on 30 August 1588, along with Ward, Edward Shelley, Richard Martin, and Richard Leigh and Richard Lloyd (alias Flower).[4]
Pope Pius XI beatified Roche in 1929. A school in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets was named after him.
Usually shown in working-class Elizabethan dress and holding an oar or a miniature boat, he is the patron of sailors, mariners and boatmen.