£5 Silver Proof History of Great Britain (In Progress) - The Gunpowder Plot

Following on from the successful 2008 History of Great Britain collection, a further twelve coins were issued. Each coin continues to trace the rich and colourful history of the British Isles. The collection has been inspired by a 'schoolboy history' of the major events and people that have shaped the British Isles as they are today.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought to restore the Catholic monarchy to England after decades of persecution against Catholics.

The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605. The plot was revealed to the authorities in an anonymous letter on 26 October 1605. During a search of the House of Lords in the evening on 4 November 1605, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder—enough to reduce the House of Lords to rubble—and arrested.