John Grant (Gunpowder Plot)

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John Grant
High treason
Criminal penaltyHanged, drawn and quartered
RoleUprising
EnlistedEarly 1605
Date apprehended
8 November 1605

John Grant (c. 1570 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the failed

Princess Elizabeth, would be captured. However, on the eve of the planned explosion, Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives the plotters had positioned in the undercroft
beneath the House of Lords, and arrested.

As the government searched for Fawkes's accomplices, Grant and the others engaged in a futile mission for support for the uprising. They stole horses from Warwick Castle, and further supplies from Hewell Grange, before stopping at Holbeche House. The plotters laid in front of the fire some of the gunpowder they had collected, to dry out, but a stray spark ignited the powder, and in the resultant conflagration Grant was blinded. Government forces besieged the house, and he was captured and taken to London.

At his arraignment in January 1606 Grant pleaded not guilty to

high treason, but he was nevertheless sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered
, and was executed three days later, on 30 January.

Background

Born some time around 1570,

Elizabeth I, as were several of the men with whom he became better acquainted through what became known as the Gunpowder Plot.[5]

Plot

English Catholics hoped that the years of persecution they had suffered during Elizabeth's reign would end when

House of Lords
with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the throne.

Catesby enlisted the help of six fellow Catholics,

war horses from the nearby Warwick Castle.[10][11]

Concern over the

Princess Elizabeth.[15] Thus, as the plot moved closer to fruition, on Monday 4 November Grant and a friend were to be found in Dunchurch at the Red Lion inn, with the newly recruited Everard Digby and his "hunting party".[nb 3] The group attended a Mass the next morning, before moving on.[16]

Failure

Tipped off by an anonymous letter to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, late on Monday night the authorities had made a search of Parliament. There they had discovered Fawkes guarding the gunpowder the plotters had placed in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords.[15] Catesby and the others, en route to the Midlands, had been alerted to his arrest by those conspirators who had since fled London, and together had ridden to Dunchurch to meet Digby and his party.[17]

By Wednesday 6 November the government was busy searching for Fawkes' accomplices, and towards the end of the day Grant's name appeared on the list of suspects drawn up by the

calivers and ammunition that he had stored there. Then they continued west through Snitterfield toward Alcester, before stopping at Huddington at about 2:00 pm that afternoon. Early the next morning they attended a Mass conducted by Father Nicholas Hart, who also heard their confessions—a sign that in Fraser's opinion demonstrates that none of them thought they had long to live.[20][21]

Riding through pouring rain, the fugitives helped themselves to arms, ammunition and money from the vacant home of Lord Windsor at Hewell Grange. Any hopes they harboured of a larger uprising were dashed by the locals, who on hearing that the party stood for "God and Country", replied that they were for "King James as well as God and Country". The group finally reached Holbeche House, on the border of Staffordshire, at about 10:00 pm. Tired and desperate they spread in front of the fire some of the now-soaked gunpowder taken from Hewell Grange, to dry out. An ember from the fire landed on the powder, and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant and another man.[22]

Grant was blinded by the conflagration, his eyes "burnt out". Some of the plotters disappeared into the night, but Grant stayed with Catesby, Thomas Wintour, Rookwood, the Wright brothers and Percy. With the arrival of the Sheriff of Worcester and his company early on 8 November, the house was besieged. Catesby and Percy were killed, as were both Wright brothers. Wintour and Rookwood were each wounded and were easily captured, as was Grant.[23]

Trial and execution

Grant and the survivors were taken first to

high treason, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.[25]

The first executions were scheduled for Thursday 30 January 1606. Along with Digby and Robert Wintour (Bates was brought separately, from the

St.Paul's Cathedral. Digby was the first to ascend the scaffold, and before he was executed gave a short speech. Wintour followed, saying little. Grant was next. At his trial, when asked why a death sentence should not be pronounced against him, he had replied that he was "guilty of a conspiracy intended, but never effected."[26] Similarly, when faced with the executioner's halter he refused to confess—the only one of the condemned to do so. He was led quietly up the ladder and crossed himself, before being hanged and then subjected to the latter part of his sentence. The other four plotters were executed the following day, in Old Palace Yard.[27]

References

Notes
  1. John Wright, Robert Keyes and Thomas Bates
    .
  2. ^ 1 January was first used to mark the English new year in 1752. This article uses the modern calendar to avoid confusion.
  3. ^ In reality Digby's hunting party was a group of armed men on horseback. By all accounts they were unaware of Digby's true intentions until after Fawkes was discovered.
Footnotes
  1. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 57
  2. ^ Nicholls 1991, p. 13
  3. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 138
  4. ^ a b Fraser 2005, p. 137
  5. ^ a b Haynes 2005, p. 57
  6. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 41–42
  7. ^ Haynes, Alan (5 November 2009), The Enduring Memory of the Gunpowder Plot, BBC, retrieved 14 July 2010
  8. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 136
  9. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 170
  10. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 139
  11. ^ Haynes 2005, p. 75
  12. ^ Haynes 2005, pp. 55–59
  13. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 133–134
  14. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 146, 159
  15. ^ a b Fraser 2005, pp. 178–179
  16. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 198–199
  17. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 200, 202–205
  18. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 211
  19. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 218
  20. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 221
  21. ^ Haynes 2005, pp. 98–99
  22. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 218–222
  23. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 222–225
  24. ^ Fraser 2005, p. 235
  25. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 263–269, 273
  26. ^ Spinks 2005, p. 404
  27. ^ Fraser 2005, pp. 277–281
Bibliography

Further reading

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