Gilbert Gifford - Double Agent

Double Agent

It was around this time that Gifford became friendly with John Savage, a student and former soldier who was involved in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and put Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne. According to Savage's confession in English State Papers, Savage had agreed in the presence of Gilbert Gifford, William Gifford (Gilbert's cousin) and Christopher Hodgson (Gilbert's close friend) to carry out this assassination. In October 1585 Gifford left Rheims again and went to Paris, where he met Thomas Morgan, an agent of Mary, and Charles Paget, another conspirator in the plot to assassinate the Queen. In December he crossed over to the port of Rye in England, where he was arrested and brought to London for questioning by Sir Francis Walsingham, head of the Queen's security forces.

In the course of the interrogation, or beforehand, Gifford agreed to act as double agent. Walsingham gave him the code name No. 4. He used several aliases, such as Colerdin, Pietro and Cornelys. He visited Mary, Queen of Scots, during her imprisonment in Chartley Hall in Staffordshire. He quickly gained her trust and took the role of smuggling encrypted letters to and from her, concealing them in beer barrels. The letters were secretly handed to Walsingham and decoded, and led to the arrest and execution of Anthony Babington and the other conspirators, as well as to the execution of Queen Mary.