William Carter

William Carter (c. 1548 – 11 January 1584) was a Roman Catholic English printer and martyr. Biography William Carter was born in London in 1548, the son of John Carter, a draper, and Agnes, his wife. He was apprenticed to John Cawood, queen's printer, on Candlemas Day, 1563, for ten years, and afterwards acted as secretary to Nicholas Harpsfield, last Catholic archdeacon of Canterbury, while Harpsfield was a prisoner in Fleet Prison. On the latter's death he married and set up a press on Tower Hill. In September 1578 he was confined for about a month in the Poultry Compter, a small prison run by a Sheriff in the City of London, apparently for failure to attend divine service as established by act of Parliament. In December 1579 he was committed to the Gatehouse "for not conforming himself in matters of religion". As the prisons were at that time unusually overcrowded he was released on bond in June 1581. By that time it had become necessary to provide false information in colophons for safety's sake. "Carter called himself Johannem Bogardi, and claimed his edition of a Peter Canisius book was actually printed in "Duaci" (Douay)."