Everyone knows about the Gunpowder Plot of November 1605, but do you know about the connections with Osgodby???
Mary Ward was living with her relatives, the Babthorpe’s, at Osgodby Hall in 1605. She had many suitors who she turned down marriage proposals. Her father, Marmaduke Ward, intended her to marry Edward Neville of Westmoreland. To persuade her, Marmaduke took her to London to meet Father Richard Holtby.
It was during this trip, Mary’s maternal uncles John and Christopher Wright, together with Thomas Percy also an uncle through the marriage of her aunt Martha, were involved in the Gunpowder Plot. Mary’s father was examined as a possible conspirator but was not implicated. He was able to prove he was in London with his daughter.
John and Christopher Wright along with Guy Fawkes attended St Peter’s School in York. Thomas Percy became a royal bodyguard and let Guy Fawkes act as his servant, giving them both access to roam around Parliament.
John and Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy died of gunshot wounds on 8 November 1605. Thomas Percy’s body was exhumed, and his head displayed on a spike outside the Houses of Parliament.