Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in York, England to a Catholic family at a time when Catholics faced persecution. As he grew older and witnessed the treatment of Catholics, he became angry and left for Catholic Spain. There he joined the Spanish army and met Thomas Winter, who had a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder to kill King James I and end laws against Catholics. Fawkes agreed to help and returned to England, renting a house next to Parliament to store gunpowder in the cellar. However, the plot was discovered before they could light the fuse when an anonymous letter warned one of the plotters. Fawkes was found in the cellar and tortured, eventually revealing

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2. Guy Fawkes was born in
York in 1570. At school his
teacher and his friends were
all Catholic.
At that time, Catholics had
practise their religion in
secret. If a Catholic priest
was caught holding a
religious service the
punishment was death.

3. As Guy grew older, he
became angry about the
way Catholics were treated.
In the 1590s he left England
for Spain. Spain was a
Catholic country. While he
was in Spain Guy Fawkes
became a soldier fighting for
the Spanish.

4. In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I
died. King James IV of
Scotland became King
James I of England. King
James was a Protestant and
passed more laws against
Catholics.

5. Guy Fawkes wanted to stop the
punishment of Catholics in England.
While he was in Spain he met a Catholic
called Thomas Winter. Thomas had a
plan: to blow up King James and the
Houses of Parliament.
It was a very dangerous plan, but Guy
Fawkes wanted to be involved in it.

6. Guy returned to England to be involved in the
gunpowder plot. He had to be very careful and all
meetings were held in secret.
On 20th May 1604, Guy met the rest of the plotters in
the Duck and Drake Inn in London.
The leader of the gang was called Robert Catesby
and Thomas Winter was also there.

7. The gang planned to put King James’ daughter,
Princess Elizabeth, on the throne. Although she was
only nine years old she was going to marry a
Catholic prince from Spain. With her on the throne
England would be a Catholic country again!
The plotters decided that
Guy should stay in London.
He took a false name and
found a small house to rent
next to the Houses of
Parliament.

8. The Houses of Parliament were just a few small
buildings in 1605. Guy’s house was perfect for the
plan as it had a cellar that led beneath the
Parliament buildings.
By the autumn of 1605, thirteen people
were involved in the plot but Guy was the
one who lived in the house and it was his
job to look after the gunpowder.
When the time was right, Guy
was the one who was going to
light the fuse to make the
gunpowder explode.

9. Parliament was due to open at the end of October,
1605. Everything was in place but, unfortunately, the
plotters did not realise that news of the plot had leaked
out.
On October 26th 1605 a letter was sent to a Catholic
called Lord Monteagle. It warned him not to attend the
opening of Parliament. The Lord decided the letter had
to be brought to the King’s attention.
The King ordered that the buildings next to
Parliament be searched. Guy was found in the
cellar with the barrels of gunpowder.

10. Guy Fawkes was taken to the Tower of
London, where he was tortured and
questioned about the other plotters. At
first he didn’t tell the soldiers anything
but, eventually, he started to tell the
truth.
Robert Catesby and the other men
were found in Holbeach House in
Worcester. Four of the plotters,
including Robert Catesby, were shot
dead. The others were sentenced to a
traitor’s death and were executed.

11. Although he died a horrible death,
Guy Fawkes died believing in
everything he had done and his
story has not been forgotten.
Each year, at the Opening of
Parliament, the Yeoman of the Guard
search the cellars of the Houses of
Parliament in memory of the
Gunpowder Plot.

12. Resource and illustrations ©Bev Evans, 2010
www.communication4all.co.uk