Hilkiah Bedford (1663–1724) was an English clergyman, a nonjuror and writer, imprisoned as the author of a book really by George Harbin.
The family originally came from Sibsey, near Boston, Lincolnshire, from where Hilkiah's grandfather, a quaker, moved to London and settled there as a stationer in the seventeenth century.
He was educated at Bradley, Suffolk, and in 1679 proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge,[1] where he was elected as the first scholar on the foundation of his maternal grandfather, William Plat.
He was fined 1,000 marks and imprisoned for three years, and after the expiration of the period was to find sureties for his good behaviour during life.
He was also condemned to appear before the court with a paper on his hat confessing the crime; but this part of the sentence was remitted in consideration of his being a clergyman.