Thomas Speght

Thomas Speght (died 1621) was an English schoolmaster and editor of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Life He was from a Yorkshire family, and matriculated as a sizar of Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1566, graduating B.A. in 1570, and M.A. in 1573. At Cambridge he was supported by a scholarship from Lady Mildred Cecil. He went to London, and became a schoolmaster.

According to the epitaph on the tomb of his son Lawrence, Speght as schoolmaster was a "paragon".

Speght's son Laurence accompanied Sir Paul Pindar on his embassy to Constantinople, and was on 10 March 1639 granted in reversion the office of surveyor-general of the customs. He was buried at Clopton, Northamptonshire. James Speght, D.D., of Christ's College, Cambridge (son of John Speght of Horbury, Yorkshire), published in 1613 A briefe demonstration who have and of the certainty of their salvation that have the spirit of Christ. Thomas Speght's will mentions a brother James, who has been identified tentatively with the cleric.