A fellow and noted classical scholar at Exeter College, Oxford,
England; he received his Master of Arts degree on 2 July 1574.
Convert to Catholicism in 1575. Studied for the priesthood at
the English College, Douai, France; ordained on 23 March 1577.
He then studied at the English College, Rome, Italy where he
became a leader of the English students. Returned to England on
1 August 1580 to minister to covert Catholics. On 9 November
1580 he was arrested in London for the crime of priesthood, and
imprisoned in Marshalsea prison; he ministered to fellow
prisoners, and converted many of them. In December 1580 he was
transferred to the Tower of London where he was tortured on the
rack and thrown out into the snow to recover. Queen Elizabeth
offered to make him a bishop if he would renounce the Catholic
Church; he refused. Convicted with several other priests on 20
November 1581 of treason for promoting Catholicism. Proto-martyr
of the English College, Rome. One of the Forty Martyrs of
England and Wales. - Book o