John Grant (Gunpowder Plot) - Trial and Execution

Trial and Execution

Grant and the survivors were taken first to Worcester in the custody of the Sheriff, and then to the Tower of London. At their arraignment on 27 January 1606 all except Digby pleaded "Not Guilty", but the outcome was never in doubt; they were all found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

The first executions were scheduled for Thursday 30 January 1606. Along with Digby and Robert Wintour (Bates was brought separately, from the Gatehouse Prison), Grant was strapped to a wattled hurdle and dragged through the streets of London to St Paul's churchyard, by St.Paul's Cathedral. Digby was the first to ascend the scaffold, and before he was executed gave a short speech. Wintour followed, saying little. Grant was next. At his trial, when asked why a death sentence should not be pronounced against him, he had replied that he was "guilty of a conspiracy intended, but never effected." Similarly, when faced with the executioner's halter he refused to confess—the only one of the condemned to do so. He was led quietly up the ladder and crossed himself, before being hanged and then subjected to the latter part of his sentence. The other four plotters were executed the following day, in Old Palace Yard.