John Speed (1628 - 1711)

Born 4 Nov 1628 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 21 Sep 1711 at age 82 in Southampton, Hampshire, England

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Biography

John Speed M.D. was the son of John Speed M.D. of Oxford, and his wife Margaret, the daughter of Dr. Warner, Professor of Physic at Oxford University.

Research notes

The preface of the book A History of Southampton (1883)^[1] says:

... John Speed, M.D., was the author of 'Bat upon Batt,' and various other pieces which have never seen the light ... He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St; John's College, Oxford, and was ejected from his fellowship, when B.A. by the parliamentary visitors, October 17, 1648, after which he lived with his friend, Mr. Knollys, Grove Place. Nursling, near Southampton, till the Restoration, when he was reinstated in his fellowship, and graduated M.A. 1660, B. and M.D. 1666; he had been admitted burgess of Southampton January 20 1658-9. In 1667 he settled in the town, and practised over an extended district. Humphrey Prideaux (Letters, pp.32, 35) writing from Oxford in 1675, speaks of him, nevertheless, as a sad toper. He tells us that on one occasion Speed had remained in the city solely for the purpose of encountering Van Tromp. the 'drunkeing greazy Dutchman,' who, after a bout of many hours, fell vanquished before Speed's greater capacity for wine and brandy.^[2]

He married firstly in 1667 the widow of Rev. William Bernard (see p. 407), who dying February 1677-78, he married, in 1680, Philadelphia, daughter of Thomas Knollys, Esq. of Grove Place.

He became patron of the benefice of Eling, presenting Mr. Pinhorne (pp. 313, 401) in 1689. He was twice mayor (pp. 179, 180); died September 21, 1711, in his eighty-fifth year, and was buried at Holy Rood.

Sources

1. ↑ Rev. J. S. Davies, A History of Southampton, partly from the MS of Dr. Speed, in the Southampton Archives, 1883, Southampton, Gilbert & Co, p. ix-x.
2. ↑ Humphrey Prideaux did not describe him as a 'sad toper' and did not speak of this incident as a one-on-one drinking match. He said, 'Dr Speed ... mustering up about five or six more as able men as himselfe at wine and brandy got the Dutchman to the Crown Tavern, and there soe plyed him with both that at 12 at night they were fain to carry him to his lodgeings,

• Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 (available on Ancestry). "Speed, John, fellow St. John's Coll. 1647, B.A. 1 Feb., 1647-8, M.A. 20 Sep., 1660, B. and D,Med. 19 June, 1666; of Merchant Taylors' school 1640, born 4 Nov., 1628 (s. John), mayor of Southampton 1681, 1694; brother of Samuel, and father of the next."

• J. J. Howard (ed), Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 1898, London, Mitchell and Hughes, vol. 2 (3rd series), p. 18-25.

• https://www.familytreedna.com/public/speed?iframe=yresults
• Records & Memorials of the Speed Family: http://tinyurl.com/zqgramu

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Arik Russell for starting this profile.

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