Richardson (alias ANDERSON), WILLIAM, VENERABLE, last martyr under Queen Elizabeth; b. according to Challoner, at Vales in Yorkshire (i.e. presumably Wales, near Sheffield), but, according to the Valladolid diary, a Lancashire man; executed at Tyburn, February 17, 1603. He arrived at Reims July 16, 1592, and on August 21 following was sent to Valladolid, where he arrived December 23 Thence, October 1, 1594, he was sent to Seville where he was ordained. According to one account he was arrested at Clement’s Inn on February 12, but another says he had been kept a close prisoner in Newgate for a week before he was condemned at the Old Bailey on the February 15, under stat. 27 Eliz., c. 2, for being a priest and coming into the realm. He was betrayed by one of his trusted friends to the Lord Chief Justice, who expedited his trial and execution with unseemly haste, and seems to have acted more as a public prosecutor than as a judge. At his execution he showed great courage and constancy, dying most cheerfully, to the edification of all beholders. One of his last utterances was a prayer for the queen.
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT