High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Francis Tresham (c. 1567 – 23 December 1605), eldest son of Sir Thomas Tresham and Merial Throckmorton, was a member of the group of English provincial catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy to assassinate King James I of England. Tresham was imprisoned for his part in the Earl of Essex`s failed rebellion against the government in 1601, and only his family`s intervention and his father`s money saved him from being attainted. The incident did not stop him from becoming involved in two missions to Catholic Spain to seek support for English Catholics (then heavily persecuted) – and finally with the Gunpowder Plotters.