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.
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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...
Other Subjects
Ralph Jackson
Burnt at the stake in Bow (or possibly Stratford) for his Protestant beliefs.
Edmund Hurst
Burnt at the stake in Bow (or possibly Stratford) for his Protestant beliefs.
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Born Herefordshire. Related via the Boleyn family to Queen Elizabeth I. Married a daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. Became a favourite of the Queen. However he performed badly as Lord Lieuten...
Ensign Eliane Sophie Plewman, Croix de Guerre
Elaine Sophie Browne-Bartroli was born on 6 December 1917 in Marseille, France, the daughter of Eugene Henry Browne and Elsa Francesca Browne née Bartroli. In addition to the information shown on ...
Thomas Johnson
Monk at London Charterhouse. Taken to Newgate Prison, chained and left to starve to death though there may have been a change of plan which meant he was fed for a while.
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C. H. Haines
Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.
A. Eldridge
Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.
Ada House
E2, Pritchard's Road, Ada House
Ada House This block was built in 1937 by the London County Council and was named after Ada Place in which the block is situated; which i...
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