Born in York in the late 1500s, after completing schooling this historical figure enlisted in the military to serve in the Eighty Years war to fight on behalf of Catholic Spain against the Dutch and the French. This person wished to form a Catholic uprising in England with the assistance of the Spanish, regarding King James I as a heretic but was unable to drum up support. The following year, they joined up with a group of English Catholics who had created a scheme to oust King James I and replace him with his daughter, Princess Elizabeth.
The plan took many forms, with talk of tunnels under both the Houses of Commons and Lords, but would eventually result in the renting of a room beneath the House of Lords and stacking gunpowder barrels ready to kill the king. It is believed that this person was tasked with lighting the fuse to trigger the explosion, but certain members of the group would make their own undoing - in warning fellow Catholics to stay away from parliament, Lord Monteagle alerted King James and searches were conducted. It was in these searches that the person in question was discovered, leaving the cellar with matches, their watch and a lantern in hand on the 5th of November 1605.
Multiple days of torture would lead to this person's confession, as well as revealing their co-conspirators, and they would be found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be hung and quartered. The date the plot was foiled would become a "joyful day of deliverance" under an Act of Parliament.
