Fawkes << fawks >>, Guy (1570-1606), participated in a conspiracy to blow up King James I and Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605, to stop the persecution of Roman Catholics in England (see Gunpowder Plot). Fawkes is the person most closely identified with the plot because he was discovered in the cellar beneath Parliament, waiting to set off the explosion. Fawkes and the other conspirators were tortured and executed. He died on Jan. 31, 1606.
Parliament proclaimed November 5 an annual day of thanksgiving shortly after Fawkes’s arrest. People in the United Kingdom still celebrate Guy Fawkes Day by burning him in effigy.
