Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding the gunpowder beneath the House of Lords in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.
Fawkes was an English soldier and Catholic conspirator who had gained military experience fighting for Catholic Spain in the Netherlands. The plotters placed him in charge of the explosives because of his experience with gunpowder. He used the alias John Johnson while working in the cellar area beneath the House of Lords.
A search ordered by King James I found Fawkes shortly after midnight on 5 November 1605. Officials discovered 36 barrels of gunpowder with him. Under interrogation and torture, he eventually signed a confession, although he initially gave a false name.
The plot was led by Robert Catesby, so Fawkes was not the overall leader. His arrest made him the best-known figure associated with the failed conspiracy, and his name later gave rise to the word “guy,” meaning an oddly dressed person or a dummy.