Speed, John, VENERABLE, English martyr, executed at Durham, 4 Feb., 1593-4, for assisting the venerable martyr John Boste (q. v.), whom he used to escort from one Catholic house to another. He died with constancy, despising the inducements offered to bring him to conformity. With him was condemned Mrs. Grace Claxton, wife of William Claxton, of the Waterhouse, in the parish of Brancepeth, Durham, at whose house Boste was taken and probably Speed also. She was, however, reprieved on being found to be with child.
CHALLONER, Missionary Priests, I, no. 100, ad finem; POLLEN, English Martyrs 1684-1603 (London, 1908), 239.
John B. Wainewright.