Person    | Male  Born 1570  Died 31/1/1606

Guy Fawkes

Born a protestant in York but became a Catholic when his widowed mother married a Catholic. A professional soldier, he fought for Spain but when he realised that Spain would not invade Britain and replace the Protestant James I with a Catholic monarchy he joined the conspirators who planned to blow up Parliament on the day it opened, which in 1605 was to be November 5th, much delayed due to an outbreak of plague. At first the conspirators rented a nearby property from where they started digging a tunnel towards Parliament but then a cellar actually under Parliament became available so they, gratefully, rented that, and stocked it with 36 barrels of gunpowder, very nearly a ton. Fawkes was given the job of lighting the fuse.

But someone chose to warn Baron Monteagle who was sympathetic to the Catholic cause and was due to attend the opening of Parliament. The letter-writer was probably Tresham, one of the conspirators and Monteagle's brother-in-law. Monteagle passed the information on to the authorities who initiated a search and on 4th November Fawkes was found in the cellar with the gunpowder. Some of the conspirators died while being held and questioned in the Tower of London, allegedly of natural causes. Those remaining were executed in the usual gruesome fashion, four on 30 January in St Paul's Churchyard and the other four, including Fawkes, the following day in Old Palace Yard, Westminster.

The picture source website tells this story, using pictures at every opportunity.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Guy Fawkes

Commemorated ati

Gunpowder Plot

Monteagle was at dinner when he received the letter so he passed it to a serv...

Read More

Other Subjects

Section Officer Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman, Croix de Guerre

Section Officer Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman, Croix de Guerre

Yolande Elsa Maria Unternahrer was born on 28 October 1911 at 13 Avenue de la Grande Armée, Paris, France, one of the six children of Swiss nationals Michelangelo Mercurio (1872-1953) and Berthe Ly...

Person, Espionage, Execution, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

Born Reading. 1628 became Bishop of London. 1633 became Archbishop of Canterbury. Supported Charles I, opposed many of the church practices that had come in during Queen Elizabeth's reign and perse...

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration, Religion

2 memorials
John Rogers

John Rogers

Protestant martyr burned at Smithfield. The first of the 'Marian Martyrs'.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
Humphrey Middlemore

Humphrey Middlemore

Monk at London Charterhouse.  Executed at Tyburn.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
Henry Adlington

Henry Adlington

Burnt at the stake in Bow (or possibly Stratford) for his Protestant beliefs.

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial

Previously viewed

National Bank Ltd - NW10

National Bank Ltd - NW10

NW10, Craven Park Road, 86

A lovely and unusual plaque - we cannot discover when, nor by whom, it was erected.

1 subject commemorated