John and Christopher Wright

John (Jack) Wright (January 1568 – 8 November 1605), and Christopher (Kit) Wright (1570? – 8 November 1605), 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. Educated at the same school in York, the Wrights had early links with Guy Fawkes, the man left in charge of the explosives stored in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords. As known recusants the brothers were on several occasions arrested for reasons of national security. Both were also members of the Earl of Essex's rebellion of 1601. John was one of the first men to join the conspiracy, which was led by Robert Catesby. Christopher joined in March 1605. At about midnight on 4 November Fawkes was discovered and arrested, following which John, Christopher and the rest of the conspirators travelled across the Midlands, attempting to gain support for a popular uprising. Eventually the group opted to wait for the authorities at Holbeche House, on the border of Staffordshire. On 8 November the Sheriff of Worcester arrived with a large group of armed men, and both brothers were killed in the ensuing firefight. Family and life before 1604 John and Christopher Wright were born to Robert Wright and his second wife, Ursula Rudston, daughter of Nicholas and Jane Rudston of Hayton. John was baptised at Welwick in Yorkshire, on 16 January 1568, and Christopher was born in 1570. Their sister Ursula married Marmaduke Ward of Givendale, Mulwith and Newby in 1584, and their first born child (John and Christopher's niece) would become the Venerable Mary Ward founder of the Sisters of Loreto (also known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary). Their sister, Martha, married the gunpowder plotter Thomas Percy in 1591. The brothers were pupils at St Peter's School in York, along with Guy Fawkes, whose name has become synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot. Although outwardly conformist, the school's headmaster John Pulleine came from a notable family of Yorkshire recusants, and his predecessor at St Peter's had spent 20 years in prison for his recusancy. Three Catholic priests, Oswald Tesimond, Edward Oldcorn and Robert Middleton, were also educated at St Peter's. John and Christopher were both married, to Dorothy and Margaret respectively. John had a daughter, born some time in the late 1590s.