Background
Colman was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, to a noble and wealthy family. His father was also named Walter Coleman. His mother"s family, the Whitgreaves, later gave asylum to Charles II in 1651 at Mosley Hall near Wolverhampton.
Colman was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, to a noble and wealthy family. His father was also named Walter Coleman. His mother"s family, the Whitgreaves, later gave asylum to Charles II in 1651 at Mosley Hall near Wolverhampton.
Having completed his year of novitiate, he returned to England at the call of provincial superior Father John Jennings, but was immediately imprisoned because he refused to take the Oath of Allegiance.
Young Colman left England to study at the English College, Douai. When religious persecution broke out anew in 1641, Colman returned to England from Douai, where he had gone to regain his health. They were all condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered on 13 December, but through the interposition of the French ambassador the execution was stayed indefinitely.
Colman lingered on in Newgate Prison for several years until 1645, when he died, exhausted by starvation and the rigours of his confinement.
On 8 December of the same year he was brought to trial, together with six other priests, two of whom were Benedictines, the other four were members of the secular clergy.