Fawkes, Guy

Fawkes, Guy (1570-1606), plotter, b. York, England.

Guy Fawkes was a soldier and he served in the Spanish Army in the Netherlands in 1593-1604.

Back in England, he joined in the plotting of a group of Catholics led by Robert Catesby.

They planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament when the Protestant King, James I, was there on 5 November, 1605.

Thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were hidden in a cellar and Fawkes was given the job of lighting the fuse. But news of the plot leaked out and Fawkes was arrested on 4 November.

Catesby and others died resisting arrest. Fawkes was found guilty of treason and hanged in the yard of the Palace of Westminster.

See Hugh Ross Williamson The Gunpowder Plot