Thomas
Bates was born in about 1570. He worked as a servant in the household
of Robert
Catesby.
Bates had many duties including purchasing animals for the estate.
In
1605 Catesby devised the Gunpowder
Plot,
a scheme to kill James
and
as many Members of Parliament as possible. Catesby planned to make
the king's young daughter, Elizabeth, queen. In time, Catesby hoped
to arrange Elizabeth's marriage to a Catholic nobleman. Over the next
few months Catesby recruited John and his brother Robert
Christopher
Wright,
to
join the conspiracy.
Catesby's
plan involved blowing up the Houses of Parliament on 5 November. This
date was chosen because the king was due to open Parliament on that
day. At first the group tried to tunnel under Parliament. This plan
changed when a member of the group was able to hire a cellar under
the House of Lords. The plotters then filled
the cellar with barrels of gunpowder. Guy
Fawkes was
given the task of creating the explosion.
One of the people involved
in the plot was Francis
Tresham. He
was worried that the explosion would kill his friend and brother-in-law,
Lord Monteagle. Tresham therefore sent
Lord Monteagle a letter warning him not to attend Parliament on 5
November.
Lord Monteagle became
suspicious and passed the letter to Robert
Cecil, the king's chief minister. Cecil quickly organised a thorough
search of the Houses of Parliament. While searching
the cellars below the House of Lords they found the gunpowder and
Guy Fawkes. He was tortured and he eventually
gave the names of his fellow conspirators.
Bates was captured in Staffordshire
on 12th November. Found guilty of treason he was executed on 30th
January, 1606. On the scaffold Thomas Bates claimed that his "affection
for his master had caused him to forget his duty to God, the King
and Country."
Crispen van de Passe, The
Gunpowder Plot Conspirators (c.1606)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
