Humphrey Berisford (probably died ''ca.'' 1588) was an English

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

who was imprisoned for his adherence to Roman Catholicism, dying in prison.

Biography

Christopher Green's 'F' manuscript, now in the

English College, Rome The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English Colleg ...

, says of Berisford that he was a gentleman of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, the son of an esquire, whose father was a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, and that he studied at Douay for about two years. Of Berisford's

confession of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The e ...

, Green says that on his return from Douai, Joseph Gillow suggests that the word missed out by Green is "years" and states that Berisford died in

Derby Gaol The term Derby Gaol historically refers to the five gaols in Derby, England. Today, the term usually refers to one of two small ‘tourist attractions’, the gaol which stood on Friar Gate from 1756 to 1846 and the cells of which still exist an ...

in about 1588.

References

History of Catholicism in England 1580s deaths Year of birth unknown 16th-century English people 16th-century Roman Catholics English people who died in prison custody People from Derbyshire {{RC-bio-stub