Gunpowder Plot – Jack Wright

With November close at hand, the nights are heavy with wind and rain. The candle gutters and leans, throwing long shadows that sway like ghosts upon the wall. It is in such nights that we recall the men who moved quietly into treason.

Among them was Jack Wright, born into a Yorkshire Catholic family that suffered under recusancy fines. Alongside his brother Christopher (‘Kit’), Jack was noted for his skill with the sword. His courage bordered on rashness, and his loyalty to Catesby made him a natural recruit when the conspiracy began.

Jack Wright’s house near the Strand in London became one of the earliest meeting places for the conspirators. It was there that plans were spoken in whispers and oaths taken upon the sacrament. Though not a planner by temperament, Wright embodied the steel that Catesby relied upon. In an age when plots turned swiftly to violence, the sword was as vital as the match.

When the plot unravelled after the discovery of Guido Fawkes in the vaults, Jack fled with Catesby and his brother Kit. At Holbeach House in Staffordshire they made their last stand. Gunfire tore through the hall; Catesby, Kit, and Jack Wright fell together, defiant to the end.

The past is never silent.