Background
He was born in Lancashire, probably a younger son of John Rishton of Dunkenhalgh and Dorothy Southworth.
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 Bachelor of Arts probably from Brasenose College.
He was the first Englishman to matriculate at Douai, and is said to have taken his Master of Arts 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.