Thomas Percy (plotter)

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Thomas Percy (Born c. 1560, died November 8, 1605.). Related by birth to the House of Percy. One of the members of the Gunpowder Plot.

[edit] Life

The younger son of Edward Percy of Beverley by his wife Elizabeth Waterton, his grandfather, Josceline Percy (1480-1532), was the fourth son of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland (c. 1449-1489). Not much is known of his early life beyond the fact that he was brought up a Protestant and attended Cambridge University, graduating in 1580. At some time in his early life he became an ardent Catholic, and in 1591, he married Martha Wright, sister of Christopher Wright and aunt of John Wright, a staunch Catholic and intimate friend of Robert Catesby; all four men were later to become co-conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot.

In October 1594 Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, Thomas's second cousin once removed, appointed him constable of Alnwick Castle and employed him as his agent, responsible for managing his northern properties, which Thomas did, exercising his authority with a tyranny that earned him serious unpopularity. In 1596 he was briefly imprisoned for killing a man in a border skirmish, in which a dozen Teviotdale Scots were driving off stolen horses when they were overtaken by a posse led by Percy, who rescued them and shot one James Burn a chief man and great rider, quite through the back with a petronell, who is dead thereof...

In 1602 Percy was accused of several misdemeanours involving mismanagement or embezzlement of his master's property: …there was a bell carryed out of Warkworth castle and sold by Sir John Ladyman, Mr. Percye’s deputie, to a Scottishman for £10, and a token sent by Mr. Percye to one Henrye Finch to carrye the bell to the Scottishman’s ship at Almouth. And bribery: John Wilkinson of Over Busdon says that Mr. Percy had £30 for his farmhold, being but 18s. of ancient rent, besides £4 he gave to Sir John Ladyman and Gabriel Ogle for procuring the bargain at Mr. Percy’s hands (“Informations against Mr. Thomas Percy for divers misdemeanours with his justifications of himself, 1602.” Annals of the House of Percy, ii. p. 591).

All this however did nothing to shake the Earl's confidence in his kinsman, and in the same year the Earl entrusted Thomas with the mission of delivering a letter from him to King James VI of Scotland, requesting an assurance of tolerance for Catholics, were he to succeed to the English throne. James' answer was interpreted favourably, but in 1604, a year after James' accession to the throne of England, Percy shared the disappointment of English Catholics at the new monarch's reluctance to repeal the penal legislation against them.

During a conversation with Robert Catesby, Percy spoke of his frustration, and Catesby confided in him that, with a friend named Thomas Winter, he had already hatched a plot to blow up the houses of parliament. He introduced Percy to two other conspirators, John Wright and Guido Fawkes, an explosives expert, and from that point on, Percy was one of the most active organisers of what was to become infamous as the gunpowder plot (see that article for details). On 4 November 1605, Percy dined with his master, the Duke of Northumberland, at Syon House, near London, but being advised of the failure of the plot, he left with Christopher Wright the next morning, possibly heading for Wales. A royal proclamation was issued for his arrest, in which he was described as tall, with a broad beard turning grey, stooping shoulders, red-coloured face, long feet and short legs.

The two men joined Catesby at Ashby St Ledgers and some other conspirators at nearby Dunchurch, where they had intended to gather had the plot succeeded. They then proceeded to Warwick, where, had they not broken into some stables to obtain fresh mounts, they might not have been caught so quickly. As it was, they managed to reach Kingswinford, on the Staffordshire border, on 7 November, where they took refuge in Holbeache House, owned by the Catholic Littleton family. During the flight, their gunpowder had become wet, and, rather rashly, they tried to dry it before the fire. The resulting explosion injured several of them, and they knew the game was up. Richard Walsh, High Sheriff of Worcester, arrived on the morning of 8 November with a posse and surrounded the house. Walsh offered a surrender, which being refused, the sheriff's men attacked. Percy was killed instantly by a ball (which also killed Catesby) from the musket of John Streete of Worcester, who was subsequently rewarded for his marksmanship. Percy's corpse was buried locally, but later exhumed, and his head displayed on a pike.

[edit] Family

Percy's wife moved from Alnwick to London, where she settled in Holborn during her husband's lifetime, and gained a livelihood from teaching. The couple had a son, Robert, and two daughters, one of whom married Robert Catesby's son.

[edit] References

• Edward Barrington de Fonblanque. Annals of the House of Percy: From the Conquest to the Opening of the Nineteenth Century. Richard Clay & Sons, London, 1887.
  
• David Jardine. A Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot. J. Murray, London 1857