He was born in
Lancashire, probably a younger son of John Rishton of
Dunkenhalgh and Dorothy Southworth. He studied at the
University of Oxford from 1568 to 1572, when he proceeded B.A. probably from
Brasenose College. During the next year he was converted to Catholicism, and went to
Douai College to study for the priesthood. He was the first Englishman to matriculate at Douai, and is said to have taken his M.A. degree there. While a student he drew up and published a chart of ecclesiastical history, and was one of the two sent to
Reims in November, 1576, to see if the college could be removed there. After his ordination at
Cambrai (6 April 1576) he was sent to Rome. In 1580 he returned to England, visiting Reims on the way, but was soon arrested. He was tried and condemned to death with
Edmund Campion and others on 20 November 1581, but was not executed, being left in prison, first in the
King's Bench prison, then in the
Tower of London. On 21 January he was exiled with several others, being sent under escort as far as
Abbeville, whence he made his way to Reims, arriving on 3 March. With the intention of taking his doctorate in divinity he proceeded to the
University of Pont-à-Mousson in
Lorraine, but the plague broke out, and though he went to
Sainte-Ménehould, to escape the infection, he died of it and was buried there. ==Works==