Blessed Montford Scott (b. in Hawstead, Suffolk, England; executed at

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

, London, on 1 July 1591) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest. He is a Catholic martyr,

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

in 1987 as one of the

Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the e ...

Life

Scott was born about 1550 in the diocese of Norwich. Having studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he went to Douai College in 1574, as one of the earliest seminary students there, and studied theology. The next year he was made

subdeacon Subdeacon is a minor orders, minor order of ministry for men or women in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed below the deacon and above the acolyte in the order of precedence. Subdeacons in ...

, and accompanied Dominic Vaughan to England.Whitfield, Joseph Louis. "Ven. Montford Scott." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912 In

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

they fell into the hands of the Government, December 1576, and under examination, Vaughan gave the names of Catholics both in London and Essex. They were then handed over by the Privy Council to the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

for further examination, but nothing more was elicited, and they were afterwards set at liberty. Scott returned to Douai on 22 May 1577, and having been ordained priest at

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

set out for the English mission on 17 June. The vessel in which he crossed to England was attacked by pirates, but he escaped with some loss of his goods. In 1578, he was captured at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and sent to London by the university's

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

"with all such books, letters, writings, and other trash which were taken about them", but eventually released. He is mentioned as having laboured in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

(1580), Norfolk, Suffolk (1583), Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (1584). On 24 April 1584, John Nedeham and others were indicted at Norwich for having, on 1 June 1582, received blessed beads from him. In 1584 he was captured at York at brought to London, where he remained a prisoner for seven years. His release was procured by a money payment from one Baker, on condition of his leaving the country. Meanwhile, he had visited the Catholics in

Wisbech Castle The Castle at Wisbech was a stone motte-and-bailey castle built to fortify Wisbech (historically in the Isle of Ely and now also in the Fenland District of Cambridgeshire, England) on the orders of William I in 1072, it probably replaced an e ...

Richard Topcliffe Richard Topcliffe (14 November 1531 – late 1604)Richardson, William. "Topcliffe, Richard (1531–1604)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, « Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008. Accessed 26 July 2013. ...

immediately procured his re-arrest. Scott was apprehended along with his cousin, Brian Lacey. He was brought to trial at the sessions at

Newgate Newgate was one of the historic seven gates of the London Wall around the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. Newgate lay on the west side of the wall and the road issuing from it headed over the River Fleet to Mid ...

, with George Beesley (30 June 1591), and was condemned on account of his priesthood and of his being in the country contrary to the statute. Scott had initially been put down for banishment, but Topcliffe secured his execution on the grounds that "it was good policy to put him to death" as his "austere life" attracted people, who considered him a saint. The next day he was drawn to Fleet Street, where he was executed.

Brian Lacey

Brian Lacey, cousin and companion of Montford Scott, was apprehended with Scott in 1591. Lacey was committed to

Bridewell Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI in 1553 as Bridewell Hospital for use as a ...

where he was cruelly tortured by Topcliffe in the vain endeavour to elicit at whose houses he had been with Scott. He was arraigned before the lord mayor at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

and condemned to be hanged for aiding and abetting priests. Five years previously Lacey had suffered imprisonment in

for religion, and he was then three times examined by Justice Young. Information against him as a distributor and dispenser of letters to Catholics and against Montford Scott had been given by his own brother, Richard Lacey, gentleman, of Brockdish, Norfolk.Whitfield, Joseph Louis. "Ven. Eustace White." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912 Lacey was later declared "Venerable".

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Montford 1591 deaths 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests English beatified people 16th-century venerated Christians Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales Year of birth unknown