Sir Everard Digby | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Digby | |
| Born | c. 1578 |
| Died | 30 January 1606 (aged 27–28) |
| Spouse | Mary Mulsho |
| Children | Kenelm Digby, John Digby |
| Parent(s) | Sir Everard Digby Maria Neale |
| Motive | Gunpowder plot, a conspiracy to assassinate King James VI & I and members of the Houses of Parliament |
| Conviction(s) | High treason |
| Criminal penalty | Hanged, drawn and quartered |
| Role | Uprising |
| Enlisted | 21 October 1605 |
Date apprehended | 8 November 1605 |
Sir Everard Digby (c. 1578 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial members of the English nobility who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Although he was raised in an Anglican household and married a Protestant, Digby and his wife were secretly received into the strictly illegal and underground Catholic Church in England by the Jesuit priest Fr. John Gerard. In the autumn of 1605, he made a Christian pilgrimage to the shrine of St Winefride's Well in Holywell, Wales. About this time, he met Robert Catesby, who was planning to blow up the House of Lords with gunpowder as an alleged act of tyrannicide and a decapitation strike against King James I. Catesby then planned to lead a popular uprising aimed at regime change, through which a Catholic monarch would be placed upon the English throne.
The full extent of Digby's knowledge of and involvement in the plot is unknown, but at Catesby's behest, Digby rented Coughton Court and prepared a "hunting party", ready for the planned uprising. The plot failed, however, and Digby joined the conspirators as they took flight through the Midlands, failing to garner support along their way. Digby left the other fugitives at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, and was soon captured and taken to the Tower of London.
Digby was tried on 27 January 1606. Despite an eloquent defence, he was found guilty of high treason, and three days later was hanged, drawn and quartered.