Thomas Bates
Encyclopedia
Thomas Bates was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot
of 1605.
Bates was born at Lapworth
in Warwickshire
, and became a retainer to Robert Catesby
, who from 1604 planned to kill King James I
by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates was invited to join the conspiracy after he accidentally became aware of it. As he rode with Catesby to prepare for the group's planned uprising on 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes
was found guarding the gunpowder stored under the House of Lords and arrested. Bates subsequently accompanied Catesby and his small group of fugitives to Holbeche House
in Staffordshire
, but left shortly before his master was killed there by government forces on 8 November. He was subsequently captured and taken to London.
Bates was the only member of the group to implicate the Jesuits in the conspiracy, but may have done so only to alleviate his punishment. He retracted his statement when it became clear he was to be executed. Three days after his trial on 27 January 1606, he was hanged, drawn and quartered
.
in Warwickshire
, and was married to Martha Bates. He was employed as a retainer to Sir Robert Catesby
's family, and with his wife lived in a cottage on the Catesby family estate. He was allowed his own servant, as well as his own armour. Bates was considered a loyal and devoted servant to Catesby.
Bates was the seventh man to be enlisted into what became known as the Gunpowder Plot
, a scheme devised early in 1604 by Catesby to kill King James I
by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates's involvement in the plot began when he became suspicious of Catesby's movements. In December 1604 he was invited to his master's lodgings at Puddle Wharf in London, and questioned there by Thomas Wintour
and Catesby, who had noted his suspicion. Bates told them that he thought that they "intended some dangerous matter about the Parliament House, because he had been sent to get a lodging near unto that place." At that point the two men let Bates in on the secret.
In the same month it was announced that because of the plague, the re-opening of Parliament would not be in February, but rather in October. During this delay the conspirators may have dug a tunnel beneath Parliament, although no evidence for its existence has ever been found. The plotters ultimately stored their gunpowder in the undercroft
directly beneath the House of Lords. In July 1605 the opening of Parliament was again delayed, this time until Tuesday 5 November. Catesby had funded most of the plot, but by August 1605 he was running out of money. During a secret meeting at Bath in August, at which he, Percy and Thomas Wintour were present, the plotters decided that "the company being yet but few" he was to be allowed to "call in whom he thought best". Bates was uncomfortable with the idea, and was the only member of the conspiracy to object. He was overruled however, and Catesby soon enlisted Ambrose Rookwood, Francis Tresham
and Everard Digby
.
would light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Late on Monday 4 November, Bates set out with Catesby and John Wright for the planned revolt. The following day while at Dunstable
re-shoeing Catesby's horse, they were met by Rookwood, who delivered the devastating news that Fawkes had been discovered guarding the gunpowder and arrested. As those conspirators still in London fled the city, the group soon integrated Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy
. They rode toward Dunchurch
, on horses sent from Everard Digby by prearrangement. They met Robert Wintour (brother to Thomas) at Ashby St Ledgers, and Digby at Dunchurch
. On 6 November they stole horses from Warwick Castle
, and collected stored weapons from Norbrook, near Stratford-upon-Avon
. As they continued toward Huddington, and as the government issued a proclamation for the fugitives' arrest (Catesby's servant was listed as Robert Ashfield, probably a mistake for Bates), Catesby ordered Bates to deliver a letter to Father Garnet at Coughton Court
, asking for his support. Bates's news proved momentous for the Jesuits; he overheard Tesimond exclaim "we are all utterly undone". Garnet's reply to Catesby begged them to stop their "wicked actions", and to listen to the pope's teachings.
on the border of Staffordshire
, they were exhausted. Drenched from the rain, they spread out some of the now-soaked gunpowder in front of the fire, to dry out. A spark from the fire landed on the powder and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant, and another man. At some point between then and the arrival of the Sheriff of Worcester
and his men, Bates left the house, possibly with his son and Digby. If he was with the latter, he was captured later the same day and taken to London. Catesby was killed early that day along with Percy, John Wright
and his brother Christopher.
knew of the plot. In the opinion of author Antonia Fraser
however, Bates's evidence is suspect; he was of a lower class than his co-conspirators, and could therefore reasonably have assumed he was at more risk of being tortured than the others. Perhaps trying to curry favour with his interrogators, he was the only conspirator to implicate the Jesuits. He later retracted his confession when it became clear that he was to be executed.
Bates was charged with high treason
, and tried at Westminster Hall on Monday 27 January 1606, alongside seven of his fellow conspirators. He arrived at the hall separately from the others; prisons operated on a class-based system and so he was kept at the Gatehouse Prison
, rather than the Tower. Only Digby pleaded not guilty. On the morning of 30 January 1606 therefore, Bates was tied to a wattled hurdle and dragged by horse along the street, from the Gatehouse Prison to the western end of St Paul's Churchyard. There he was present as first Digby, then Wintour, and then Grant, were hanged, drawn and quartered
. Bates was the last to ascend the scaffold that day, and met a similarly gruesome end. The following day the four remaining conspirators were executed in the same manner.
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
of 1605.
Bates was born at Lapworth
Lapworth
Lapworth is a village and civil parish situated in the east of the county of Warwickshire, England. It lies close to the border with the West Midlands and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,100....
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, and became a retainer to Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby , was the leader of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605....
, who from 1604 planned to kill King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates was invited to join the conspiracy after he accidentally became aware of it. As he rode with Catesby to prepare for the group's planned uprising on 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
was found guarding the gunpowder stored under the House of Lords and arrested. Bates subsequently accompanied Catesby and his small group of fugitives to Holbeche House
Holbeche House
Holbeche House is a mansion located near Kingswinford, on the borders of Staffordshire. It is the building in which some of the central Gunpowder plotters were captured, and the rest killed.-Gunpowder Plot:...
in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, but left shortly before his master was killed there by government forces on 8 November. He was subsequently captured and taken to London.
Bates was the only member of the group to implicate the Jesuits in the conspiracy, but may have done so only to alleviate his punishment. He retracted his statement when it became clear he was to be executed. Three days after his trial on 27 January 1606, he was hanged, drawn and quartered
Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...
.
Servant
Bates was born at LapworthLapworth
Lapworth is a village and civil parish situated in the east of the county of Warwickshire, England. It lies close to the border with the West Midlands and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,100....
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, and was married to Martha Bates. He was employed as a retainer to Sir Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby , was the leader of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605....
's family, and with his wife lived in a cottage on the Catesby family estate. He was allowed his own servant, as well as his own armour. Bates was considered a loyal and devoted servant to Catesby.
Bates was the seventh man to be enlisted into what became known as the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
, a scheme devised early in 1604 by Catesby to kill King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates's involvement in the plot began when he became suspicious of Catesby's movements. In December 1604 he was invited to his master's lodgings at Puddle Wharf in London, and questioned there by Thomas Wintour
Thomas Wintour
Robert Wintour and Thomas Wintour , also spelt Winter, were members of the Gunpowder Plot, a failed conspiracy to assassinate King James I. Both were related to other conspirators, such as their cousin, Robert Catesby, and a half-brother, John Wintour, also joined them following the plot's failure...
and Catesby, who had noted his suspicion. Bates told them that he thought that they "intended some dangerous matter about the Parliament House, because he had been sent to get a lodging near unto that place." At that point the two men let Bates in on the secret.
In the same month it was announced that because of the plague, the re-opening of Parliament would not be in February, but rather in October. During this delay the conspirators may have dug a tunnel beneath Parliament, although no evidence for its existence has ever been found. The plotters ultimately stored their gunpowder in the undercroft
Undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...
directly beneath the House of Lords. In July 1605 the opening of Parliament was again delayed, this time until Tuesday 5 November. Catesby had funded most of the plot, but by August 1605 he was running out of money. During a secret meeting at Bath in August, at which he, Percy and Thomas Wintour were present, the plotters decided that "the company being yet but few" he was to be allowed to "call in whom he thought best". Bates was uncomfortable with the idea, and was the only member of the conspiracy to object. He was overruled however, and Catesby soon enlisted Ambrose Rookwood, Francis Tresham
Francis Tresham
Francis Tresham , eldest son of Sir Thomas Tresham and Merial Throckmorton, was a member of the group of English provincial catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I of England...
and Everard Digby
Everard Digby
Sir Everard Digby was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in a Protestant household, and married a Protestant, Digby and his wife were converted to Catholicism by the Jesuit priest John Gerard...
.
Failure
The last details of the plot were finalised in October. Guy FawkesGuy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
would light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Late on Monday 4 November, Bates set out with Catesby and John Wright for the planned revolt. The following day while at Dunstable
Dunstable
Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...
re-shoeing Catesby's horse, they were met by Rookwood, who delivered the devastating news that Fawkes had been discovered guarding the gunpowder and arrested. As those conspirators still in London fled the city, the group soon integrated Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy
Thomas Percy (plotter)
Thomas Percy was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. A tall, physically impressive man, little is known of his early life beyond his matriculation in 1579 to Peterhouse College in Cambridge, and his marriage in 1591 to Martha Wright...
. They rode toward Dunchurch
Dunchurch
Dunchurch is a civil parish and village on the south-western outskirts of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a population of 2,842 in the village.- History :...
, on horses sent from Everard Digby by prearrangement. They met Robert Wintour (brother to Thomas) at Ashby St Ledgers, and Digby at Dunchurch
Dunchurch
Dunchurch is a civil parish and village on the south-western outskirts of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a population of 2,842 in the village.- History :...
. On 6 November they stole horses from Warwick Castle
Warwick Castle
Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century,...
, and collected stored weapons from Norbrook, near Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
. As they continued toward Huddington, and as the government issued a proclamation for the fugitives' arrest (Catesby's servant was listed as Robert Ashfield, probably a mistake for Bates), Catesby ordered Bates to deliver a letter to Father Garnet at Coughton Court
Coughton Court
Coughton Court is an English Tudor country house, situated on the main road between Studley and Alcester in Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building....
, asking for his support. Bates's news proved momentous for the Jesuits; he overheard Tesimond exclaim "we are all utterly undone". Garnet's reply to Catesby begged them to stop their "wicked actions", and to listen to the pope's teachings.
Capture
By the time the fugitives and their supporters arrived at Holbeche HouseHolbeche House
Holbeche House is a mansion located near Kingswinford, on the borders of Staffordshire. It is the building in which some of the central Gunpowder plotters were captured, and the rest killed.-Gunpowder Plot:...
on the border of Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, they were exhausted. Drenched from the rain, they spread out some of the now-soaked gunpowder in front of the fire, to dry out. A spark from the fire landed on the powder and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant, and another man. At some point between then and the arrival of the Sheriff of Worcester
High Sheriff of Worcestershire
This is a list of Sheriff and since 1998 High Sheriffs of Worcestershire.The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been...
and his men, Bates left the house, possibly with his son and Digby. If he was with the latter, he was captured later the same day and taken to London. Catesby was killed early that day along with Percy, John Wright
John Wright (Gunpowder Plot)
John Wright , and Christopher Wright , were members of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I by blowing up the House of Lords. Their sister married another plotter, Thomas Percy...
and his brother Christopher.
Imprisonment and execution
While imprisoned, on 4 December Bates claimed that Father Oswald TesimondOswald Tesimond
Oswald Tesimond was a Jesuit born in either Northumberland or York who, while not a direct conspirator, had some involvement in the Gunpowder Plot....
knew of the plot. In the opinion of author Antonia Fraser
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, DBE , née Pakenham, is an Anglo-Irish author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction, best known as Antonia Fraser...
however, Bates's evidence is suspect; he was of a lower class than his co-conspirators, and could therefore reasonably have assumed he was at more risk of being tortured than the others. Perhaps trying to curry favour with his interrogators, he was the only conspirator to implicate the Jesuits. He later retracted his confession when it became clear that he was to be executed.
Bates was charged with high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
, and tried at Westminster Hall on Monday 27 January 1606, alongside seven of his fellow conspirators. He arrived at the hall separately from the others; prisons operated on a class-based system and so he was kept at the Gatehouse Prison
Gatehouse Prison
Gatehouse Prison was a prison in Westminster, built in 1370 as the gatehouse of Westminster Abbey and first used as a prison by the Abbot, a powerful churchman who held considerable power over the precincts and sanctuary...
, rather than the Tower. Only Digby pleaded not guilty. On the morning of 30 January 1606 therefore, Bates was tied to a wattled hurdle and dragged by horse along the street, from the Gatehouse Prison to the western end of St Paul's Churchyard. There he was present as first Digby, then Wintour, and then Grant, were hanged, drawn and quartered
Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...
. Bates was the last to ascend the scaffold that day, and met a similarly gruesome end. The following day the four remaining conspirators were executed in the same manner.