The name Henry Garnett might not rank alongside those of Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby, but his story is arguably even more remarkable.
Sentenced to the same grisly fate as the gunpowder plot conspirators, there’s now a growing acceptance that Garnett was a victim of history; hanged, drawn and quartered for what he knew, rather than what he did.
Born in Heanor in 1555, but raised in Nottingham, Garnett was the son of Brian Garnett, the headmaster of Nottingham High School.
The school is now five hundred years old and is on the same site, on Arboretum Street.
No precise records remain of when exactly Brian was headmaster of the school but it is thought to be the decade between 1565 and 1575.
It is believed that Henry was a musically gifted pupil at the school from 1563-64 with a particular talent for the flute.
As an adult he travelled to Rome to enter the Society of Jesus and become a Jesuit.
Picture: Henry is almost certain to have studied at Nottingham High School when his father was headmaster
Fate was to drag him back to England when his superior demanded he return. At this time it was illegal to be a Jesuit and if caught they could be charged with high treason.
On his return to England Henry was made a Superior and given the risky task of establishing a secret press to print pro-Catholic literature.
In 1605 he met Robert Catesby, the orchestrator of the gunpowder plot, and Catesby made a remarkable confession.
He quizzed the priest on the morality of killing innocent bystanders for a spiritual cause. In reply, Henry quoted Catholic scripture saying innocent people had died alongside the enemy in war before.
Worrying about what Catesby intended to do with this knowledge, Henry arranged another meeting in which he told him that any action had to be lawful.
Following the meeting Henry wrote to the Pope urging him to instruct English Catholics to remain peaceful and not engage in violence.
Henry had the opportunity to foil the plot, but decided that as the information was revealed to him in a confession, it would be immoral to tell anyone. This meant that in the eyes of the law Henry was now an accomplice.
Picture: Brian Ganett’s name is recorded on a roll of former headmasters at Nottingham High School
So when news reached Henry of the plot’s failure on November 5 he took flight. Soon after Casteby and his small group of Catholic rebels were found and killed by the King’s forces.
After weeks on the run Henry was captured on January 26 1606. He was immediately taken to London where he appeared before the Privy Council to be questioned.
Although generally he appeared to be well-treated, there is evidence that the rack was used in an attempt to solicit a confession from him.
The captors got the confession they were after when Henry accepted that he did have some prior knowledge of the plot, but was unable to warn anyone as it was admitted to him in a confession.
This was all the captors needed and a trial was arranged for March. Traditionally prisoners were walked through the crowds to a trial however this wasn’t possible for Henry because of the amount of public support he had, therefore he was transported via a coach.
Picture: An engraving depicting the grisly execution of Guy Fawkes. Garnett suffered the same fate.
He pleaded not guilty, but it was in vain, as the state found him guilty of treason in little over 15 minutes and sentenced him to to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
On May 3 he was taken to St Paul’s to be executed. According to accounts, on the gallows he remained brave and steadfastly refused to convert to Protestantism.
He said his prayers before being chucked off the gallows. The usual punishment for treason was to be hanged until nearly dead then drawn, which meant being dragged by a horse to a place to be emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded and cut into four pieces.
There are now calls for Henry to be given more recognition locally and nationally for standing by his beliefs and trying to stem the plotter’s determination to commit violence.
If there are any heroes in the story, he is one of them
Kevin Fear, the current headmaster of Nottingham High School, said: “If there are any heroes in the story, he is one of them because he did try to prevent it. He was horrified they went ahead having told him what they wanted to do.
“There does need to be a bit more recognition. Everyone knows about Guy Fawkes, but people don’t know much about the other characters involved.
“Henry knew about it but didn’t stop it. You’d like to think you would stop it, but what do you do if your principles don’t allow you to. What do you do in that situation?”
“Garnet said his prayers, and was then thrown off the ladder and hanged. Before the executioner could cut him down alive, many in the crowd pulled on his legs, and as a result, Garnet did not suffer the remainder of his grim sentence. There was no applause when the executioner held Garnet’s heart aloft and said the traditional words, “Behold the heart of a traitor”.
His head was set on a pole on London Bridge, but crowds of onlookers fascinated by its pallid appearance eventually forced the government to turn the head upwards, so its face was no longer visible.”
