Francis
Tresham, the eldest son of Sir John Tresham, the Sheriff of Northamptonshire,
was born in about 1567. He was educated at Cambridge
University but as a Roman
Catholic he
was unable to graduate.
In
August 1581, Sir John Tresham was arrested for harbouring Catholic
priests and spent the next seven years in Fleet
Prison. He was also heavily fined for acts of recusancy. In 1591
Francis Tresham was also arrested and spent time in prison.
In
1596 Elizabeth
I became ill. As a precautionary measure, a
group of leading Roman
Catholics, including Francis
Tresham, Christopher
Wright, Robert
Catesby and John
Wright were
arrested and sent
to the Tower of London.
Tresham
was
also involved with Robert Devereux,
Earl of Essex, in the failed attempt to remove Elizabeth
I from
power in 1601. Due to the minor role he played in the rebellion he
was not executed and instead spent time in prison.
In
1605 Robert 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. Catesby recruited
Francis Tresham 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.
Francis Tresham was worried
that the explosion would kill his friend and brother-in-law, Lord
Monteagle. On 26th October, Tresham sent Lord Monteagle a letter
warning him not to attend Parliament on 5th November.
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.
Francis Tresham was arrested
on 12th November. He wrote a full confession about his involvement
in the Gunpowder Plot. However, many
people believed he was working as a double agent for Robert
Cecil.
Francis Tresham died in
the Tower of London on 22nd December, 1605.
Officially death was caused by a blockage of the urinary tract. However,
rumours circulated that he had been poisoned by Lord
Monteagle.
Crispen van de Passe, The
Gunpowder Plot Conspirators (c.1606)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
