Thomas Speed

Thomas Speed (1623-1703) was a preacher and successful merchant who, along with Thomas Goldney I, was a leading figure in the first decade of Bristol Quakerism. Family and Education Speed was the son of Richard Speed of Sherborne and educated at Sherborne School and Exeter College, Oxford. Career After graduating from Oxford, Speed took the Covenant and became Minister of St Philip's, Bristol, until 1650 when his interest in Quakerism began and he became a merchant. Speed and his friends had a difficult time in establishing Quakerism in Bristol, being subjected to abuse in both physical and pamphleteering forms, and defended themselves with no less vigour. Speed, along with Thomas Goldney I and others recorded how they were 'abused, dirted, stoned, pinched, kicked and otherwise greatly injured' in Cry of Blood published in 1656.