The execution of Father Garnet by hanging. Wood engraving.

Father Henry Garnet was involved in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605 which was originated by Robert Catesby and several Roman Catholics of rank. They planned to explode a mine under the Houses of Parliament and destroy the king, lords and commons there asssembled. Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators, was detected under the vaults in the House of Lords, preparing explosives. Catesby and three others died resisting arrest, but eight members of the plot were executed in 1606. Henry Garnet, a Jesuit, was executed as an accomplice on 3 May 1606. An act of Parliament of 1605 named 5 November as a day for the nation to give thanks for its deliverance