Garnett Henry

Garnett, Henry (1555-1606), an English Jesuit, was born at Heanor in Derbyshire. He was a scholar of Winchester College, and, becoming a Catholic, came to London, where he studied law and corrected the press for a law printer. He then went to Spain and Italy, and became a Jesuit in 1575. In 1587 he was sent as missionary to England, a position for which his gentle and retiring nature little fitted him. After the Gunpowder Plot a letter found upon Guy Fawkes drew suspicion upon Garnett, and he was for a time hidden with another priest at Hindlip Hall. Forced at last to yield through want of air and movement, he was committed to the Tower. His trial came off in 1606, the judge being Chief Justice Popham, who had known him in former days, and Coke being the prosecutor. He was condemned and executed.