John Grant

John Grant (c. 1570 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the failed Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to replace the Protestant King James I of England with a Catholic monarch. Grant was born around 1570, and lived at Norbrook in Warwickshire. He married the sister of another plotter, Thomas Wintour. Grant was enlisted by Robert Catesby, a religious zealot who had grown so impatient with James's lack of toleration for Catholics that he planned to kill him, by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder. Grant's role in the conspiracy was to provide supplies for a planned Midlands uprising, during which James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, would be captured. However, on the eve of the planned explosion, Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the explosives the plotters had positioned in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and arrested. As the government searched for Fawkes's accomplices, Grant and the others engaged in a futile mission for support for the uprising. They stole horses from Warwick Castle, and further supplies from Hewell Grange, before stopping at Holbeche House. The plotters laid in front of the fire some of the gunpowder they had collected, to dry out, but a stray spark ignited the powder, and in the resultant conflagration Grant was blinded. Government forces besieged the house, and he was captured and taken to London. At his arraignment in January 1606 Grant pleaded not guilty to high treason, but he was nevertheless sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, and was executed three days later, on 30 January. Background Born some time around 1570, John Grant lived at Norbrook, near Snitterfield in Warwickshire. He was married to Thomas Wintour's sister, Dorothy, with a son, Wintour Grant. He is described by author Antonia Fraser as a melancholy individual, but also an intellectual who studied Latin and other languages. He was a resolute character, as the poursuivants who searched his home for Catholic priests were no doubt aware; he was so unwelcoming to them that they eventually shied away from Norbrook. Grant was also involved in the Essex Rebellion against Elizabeth I, as were several of the men with whom he became better acquainted through what became known as the Gunpowder Plot.