Robert
Wintour, the son of George Wintour, was born in 1565. His father had
hop yards and 25 salt-evaporating pans at Droitwich. Robert inherited
these estates when his father died in 1594.
Wintour
married Gertrude Talbot, daughter of Sir John Talbot, one of the richest
men in Worcestershire. Talbot was a Roman
Catholic and
had spent over 20 years in prison for his beliefs.
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. Over the next
few months Catesby recruited Robert and his brother Thomas
Wintour,
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.
Robert Wintour went on
the run and found refuge at the house of Humphrey Littleton. He was
betrayed to the authorities by John Fynwood, one of the family's servants,
and was captured on 9th January, 1606. He was executed along with
Thomas
Bates in London
on 30th January, 1606.
Crispen van de Passe, The
Gunpowder Plot Conspirators (c.1606)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
