Richard Topcliffe

Richard Topcliffe (14 November 1531 – late 1604)[1] was a priest hunter and practitioner of torture[1] during the reign of Elizabeth I of England. A landowner and Member of Parliament, he became notorious as the government's chief enforcer of the penal laws against the practice of Catholicism.

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