Richard Simpson

Who was Richard Simpson?

Blessed Richard Simpson was an English priest, martyred in the reign of Elizabeth I. He was born in Well, in Yorkshire. Little is known of his early life, but according to Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests, he became an Anglican priest, but later converted to Catholicism. He was imprisoned in York as a Catholic recusant; on being released, he went to Douai College, where he was admitted on 19 May 1577. The date of his ordination is unknown; the College, at this time, was preparing for its move to Rheims, and record keeping was affected. But it is known that the ordination took place in Brussels within four months of his admission to the seminary, and that on 17 September, Simpson set out for England to work as a missionary priest. He carried out his ministry in Lancashire and Derbyshire.

According to Challoner, Simpson was arrested and banished in 1585, but returned quickly to England. While travelling in the Peak District, in January 1588, he met a stranger who pretended so successfully to be a Catholic, that Simpson revealed his priesthood. The man denounced him at the next town, and he was arrested.