DATE                              PRISONER

 

1106

William, Count of Mortain was imprisoned in the the Tower

• He was a prisoner of war .

• He was Earl of Cornwall

• William became a Cluniac monk at Bermondsey Abbey

1196

William Fitz Osbert was sent to the Tower

• He was imprisoned for for protesting taxation levied for rescue of Richard 1st of England.

• William was executed

1199

John de Courcy was sent to the Tower

• He was imprisoned for his role in the rebellion in Ireland

1232

Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent was sent to the Tower

• He was imprisoned in 1234

• Hubert was a was Justiciar of England and Ireland and one of the most influential men in England .

• He was also Regent to the young Henry III of England

1241

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr, was sent to the Tower.

• He fell to his death in 1244 whilst trying to escape. He is said to have used an improvised rope made from sheets and cloths to lower himself from his window, but as he was a heavy man, the rope broke and he fell to his death.

• Gruffydd the eldest but illegitimate son of Llywelyn the Great ("Llywelyn Fawr")

1296

John Balliol was committed to the Tower.

• He had been King of Scots Reign 17th November 1292 – 10th July 1296

• John after being forced to abdicate the crown of Scotland by King Edward I of England . He was imprisoned in the Tower till 1299 after which he went to France.

1297

12TH OCTOBER William 'le hardi' Douglas, was sent to the Tower.

• He was a was a Scottish nobleman and warlord.

• William did in the Tower in 1298 believed to have been murdered.

1305

23RD AUGUST William Wallace was sent to the Tower

• He was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

• William was executed for High treason. He was stripped naked and dragged through the city at the heels of a horse to the Elms at Smithfield He was hanged, drawn and quartered — strangled by hanging, but released while he was still alive, emasculated, eviscerated and his bowels burned before him, beheaded, then cut into four parts

1321

NOVEMBER Margaret De Clare, Baroness Badlesmere was imprisoned for year in the Tower

• She was jailed on account of having ordered an armed assault on Isabella of France, Queen consort of King Edward II of England.

• Margaret was the first recorded female prisoner in the Tower's history .Margaret was arrested and sent as a prisoner, along with her five children and Bartholomew de Burghersh

1346

13TH OCTOBER David II of Scotland was imprisoned in the Tower

• King David was captured at the Battle of Neville's Cross by the English

• He was the son of Robert The Bruce, who was King of Scotland.

• David was later transferred to Windsor Castle in Berkshire upon the return of King  Edward III  of England from France.

​

OCTOBER John Graham, Earl of Menteith was mprisoned after Neville's Cross

• John was a was a Scottish nobleman

• He hanged, drawn and quartered on the 28th February 1347

1356

John II of France was imprisoned after being captured at the Battle of Poitiers

• He was Released in 1360, spending a total of four years in the Tower.

• John was King of France Reign 22nd August 1350 – 8th April 1364

1399

1ST SEPTEMBER Richard II of England temporary imprisoned in the Tower before being moved to Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire to which he died on the 14th February 1400.

• Richard had been king of England before being forced to abdicated by the new  Henry IV his first cousin. Reign 21st June 1377– 30th September 1399

• Richard was the grandson of Edward III of England.

1406

James I of Scotland, was kidnapped while travelling to France in 1406 and imprisoned in the Tower

• James left the Tower in 1408 and was transferred to Nottingham Castle

• He was King of Scotland Reign 4th April 1406–21st February 1437

1412

19TH NOVEMBER- 3RD JUNE 1314 Sir Gilbert Denys was imprisoned in the Tower of London

• He was imprisoned for having taken the law into his own hands

1465

King Henry VI of England as imprisoned in the Tower after his captured and 1470 and imprisoned again in 1471

• It was believed Henry died under suspicious circumstances in the Tower on 21st May 1471

  Henry had been King of England twice: 1st Reign 31st August 1422 – 4th March 1461 and 2nd Reign 3rd October 1470 – 11th April 1471

1471

4TH MAY Margaret of Anjou was imprisoned after being captured at the Battle of Tewkesbury

• In 1475,Margaret was ransomed and allowed to return to France.

• Margaret had been Queen consort of England to Henry VI 1st Reign  23rd April 1445– 4th March 1461 & 2nd Reign  3rd October 1470– 11th April 1471

1477

George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Warwick was put in the Tower

• George was arrested on charges of treason against his Brother Edward IV of England

• George was executed on the 18th February rumoured to have been drowned in a butt of wine

• He was the father of Edward Plantagenet 17th Earl of Warwick and Margaret Pole.

1483

APRIL Edward V of England and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury were placed in the Tower.

• Both princes went missing in the summer of 1483, not long after their uncle Richard III England took then Throne.

• They are known in history as the Princes in the Tower

• They were originally sent to Tower for their own protection, after their father Edward IV death

1485

Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick was imprisoned in the tower

• Edward was the son of George Plantagenet, and one of the last York potential claimants in the world. Edward was imprisoned as he was threat to Henry VII (Tudor) position as King of England.

• On the 28th November 1499, Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick was executed after he became involved (willingly or unwillingly) in a plot to escape with Perkin Warbeck.

1495

Sir William Stanley was imprisoned in the Tower

• William was the brother of Thomas Stanley,whom was step-father to King Henry VII.

• He is often credited as placing Richard III crown on Henry Tudor's head to become king  Henry VII.

• William was convicted of treason and executed for his support of the pretender Perkin Warbeck.

1497

JUNE Michael Joseph was sent to the tower of London after being captured

• Michael was one of the Leaders of the Cornish Rebbellion.

• Michael Joseph was were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on the 27th June 1497

 

Michael An Gof was imprisoned in the Tower.

• Michael fled to Greenwich after the Cornish Rebellion but was captured

• Michael An Gof was hanged, drawn and quartered for being one of the Leaders of the Cornish Rebellion on the 17th June 1497.

 

Thomas Flamank was arrested and sent to the Tower

• Thomas was a as a lawyer and former MP from Cornwall

• Thomas Flamank was was beheaded at Tower Hill for his role in the Cornish Rebellion.

 

 

Perkin Warbeck was imprisoned in the Tower

• Perkin was a pretender to the English throne. Warbeck claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV

• Perkin Warbeck was executed on the 23rd November on the orders of Henry VII in 1499, while trying to escape with the Earl. Of Warwick Edward Plantagenet

1502

William de la Pole was held in the Tower for thirty-seven years.

• He was a nephew of King Edward IV and thus potential Yorkist claimant to the throne

• William De la Pole was arrested for allegedly plotting against King Henry VII of England , thus becoming the longest-held prisoner.

1521

APRIL Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham was arrested and placed in the Tower

• Edward was arrested on suspected of potentially treasonous actions

• He was the son of  Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Katherine Woodville, whose sister, Queen Elizabeth Woodville, was the wife of King Edward IV

• Edward was convicted of treason, and executed on 17th May 1521 at Tower Hill.

1532

John Frith was arrested and sent to The Tower of London

• John was Sentenced to death as a heretic and was transferred to Newgate Prison

• On the 4th July 1533, John Frith  was Publicly burned at the stake in Smithfield, London

   

Thomas Abel, was sent to the Tower first in 1532 and then again in December 1533.

• Thomas had been a chaplain to Queen Catherine of Aragon.

• He was imprisoned for refusing to accept the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII

• On 30th July 1540. Thomas  Abel was "be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, there to be hanged, cut down alive, your members to be cut off and cast in the fire, your bowels burnt before your eyes, your head smitten off, your body to be quartered

1533

Saint John Fisher was arrested and placed in the Tower.

• He was arrested for refusing to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church's doctrine of papal primacy.

• John   was the Cardinal and Bishop of Rochester

• John  Fisher was executed on the 22nd June 1535 at Tower Hill.

1534

17TH APRIL Thomas More was arrested and placed in the Tower of London

• Thomas had been Lord Chancellor October 1529– May 1532 & Speaker of the House of Commons 16th April 1523- 13th August 1523

• After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason.Thomas More was executed on 6th July 1535

1536

2ND MAY Queen Anne Boleyn was sent to the Tower

• She was imprisoned for High treason, Incest and adultery

• Anne was the second wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother to Queen Elizabeth 1st England.

• Anne Boleyn was executed by the sword on the 19th May 1536.

 

2ND MAY George Boleyn was arrested and placed in the Tower

• He was imprisoned for High-treason, incest with his sister Anne Boleyn

• George Boleyn was executed on the 17th May 1536 at Tower Hill

​

8TH JULY Lord Thomas Howard was imprisoned in the Tower

• Thomas was sent to the Tower for his engagement to Margaret which angered the King Henry VIII. At the time Margaret very high in the line of succession; for her to contract an unauthorized marriage was politically outrageous .

• On the 31st October 1537, Lord Thomas Howard caught a fatal illness and died in the Tower.

 

 

8TH JULY Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox was sent to the Tower

• The first time she was put in the tower for her engagement to Thomas Howard which angered the King Henry VIII . At the time Margaret very high in the line of succession; for her to contract an unauthorized marriage was politically outrageous . Margaret was later released in 31st October 1537 after falling ill in the Tower.

• The second time was after Queen Elizabeth disproved the Marriage of Henry Stuart Lord Darnley and Mary Queen Scots, which was believed to be instigated by Margaret

• After the murder of her son Henry Stuart, in 1566 she was released.

• Margaret was the daughter of Margaret Tudor and from her second marriage to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus . She was also a granddaughter to Henry VII of England.

1537

Adam Sedbar, Abbot of Jervaulx, imprisoned ifor taking part in the Pilgrimage of Grace

• On the 2nd June 1537, Adam Sedbar, was  hanged, drawn and quartered. at Tyburn.

1538

NOVEMBER Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury was imprisoned in the Tower

• She was the daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, the brother of King Edward IV and Richard III.

• On the 27th May 1541, Margaret Pole  was executed for high treason

1539

Hugh Latimer was imprisoned for opposed Henry VIII Six Articles, Hugh was imprisoned a second time in 1546.

• Hugh was the Bishop of Worcester and became one of the three Oxford Martyrs of Anglicanism.

• On the 16th October 1555, Hugh Latimer was burned at the stake Oxford, Oxfordshire, Kingdom of England

 

 

19TH SEPTEMBER Richard Whiting was arrested and sent to the Tower

• On the 15th November 1539, The king Henry VIII had him executed after his conviction for treason for remaining loyal to Rome. He was hung, drawn and quartered.

1540

10TH JUNE Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex was sent to the Tower

• He a was Accused of a list of charges There was a Bill of Attainder containing a long list of indictments, including supporting Anabaptists, corrupt practices, leniency in matters of justice, acting for personal gain, protecting Protestants accused of heresy and thus failing to enforce the Act of Six Articles, and plotting to marry Lady Mary Tudor,

• Thomas was condemned to death without trial, lost all his titles and property and was beheaded onTower Hill on the 28th July 1540 in a public execution.

• Thomas Cromwell, had been King Henry VIII of England chief minster, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1533–1540 , Secretary of State 1534–1540 Lord Privy Seal 1536–1540

1541

Jane Parker  Lady Rochard was imprisoned in the Tower for her role in facilitating the Queen Catherine Howard adultery

• During her imprisonment in the Tower, Lady Rochford was interrogated for many months, but was not tortured. However, she seems to have suffered a full nervous breakdown and by the beginning of 1542 was pronounced insane

• Jane had been lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon., Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne Cleves and Catherine Howard
  She was the widow of George Boleyn and had been sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn

• Jane Parker  was executed under an Act of Attainder on the 13th February 1542.

1542

Catherine Howard , was imprisoned in 1542 before her execution.

• Catherine was the Fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England

• Catherine Howard  was executed on the 13th February 1542 on the grounds of treason for committing adultery while married to Henry.

1546

MAY Anne Askew, was imprisoned and tortured in the Tower for heresy

• She was a Protestant reformer

• She is the only woman on record known to have been both tortured in the Tower of London

• On the 16th July 1546 Anne Askew was burnt alive at Smithfield

 

12TH DECEMBER Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was imprisoned in the Tower

• Thomas son Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who had assumed the royal arms of Edward the Confessor as part of his personal heraldry . Thomas had acknowledged that he had "concealed high treason, in keeping secret the false acts of my son,

  He was set to be executed at the time of king Henry VIII death in 1547. Edward VI granted him as a reprieve, but he remained in the Tower until pardoned by Queen Mary I in 1553.

• Thomas was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII of England, namely Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard

 

 

12TH DECEMBER Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was sent to the Tower for assumed the royal arms of Edward the Confessor as part of his personal heraldry

• Henry was the son of Thomas 3rd Duke of Norfolk and also a first cousin to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

• Henry  Howard  Earl of Surrey was was beheaded on the 19th January 1547 on a charge of treasonable quartering the royal arms.

1548

Stephen Gardiner was imprisoned in the Tower

• He was arrested for his failure to conform.

• Upon Queen Mary Tudor accession to the throne he was restored to his see and made Lord Chancellor.

• Stephen  crowned  Queen Mary Tudor  at her coronation in 1553

1549

11TH OCTOBER Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, was arrested and placed in the Tower

• He was in the Tower until 6th February 1550 and later fell from Grace for the last time.

• edwrad was the brother to the late Queen consort Jane Seymour, and uncle to King Edward VI

• Edward Seymour was executed for Felony on the 22nd January after scheming to overthrow John Dudley's the new Lord president of the Kings council, regime

1551

Lord Edward Seymour was sent to the Tower

• He was the son of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset by his first wife Catherine Fillol

• Edward spent time in Tower during his father's down fall however was later released.

 

 

Sir John Chichester was Imprisoned in the Tower.

• John was imprisoned twice in the Tower, once when Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour fell from power.

• The second time he was imprisoned in 1556 for his involvement in the Dudley conspiracy against Queen Mary

1553

27TH JULY Sir Anthony Cooke was sent to the Tower

• Anthony was arrested on suspicion of complicity in Lady Jane Grey's movement.

• He had been tutor to king Edward VI. Of England

• After his release he went into self-imposed exile to avoid Queen Mary Tudors attempt to reintroduce Catholicism

• Anthony was later Custos Rotulorum of Essex. 1573–1576

 

10 TH JULY Lady Jane Grey, was kept in the Tower

• Jane was the Nine-day Queen, the great-grandfather of King Henry VII of England

• She had been in the Tower originally to await her coronation. However never left once Mary Tudor took her Throne and Imprisoned Jane and those who supported her

• On the 12th February Lady Jane Grey was executed for High Treasonable

 

10TH JULY Guildford Dudley was kept in the Tower.

• He was the husband to the Lady Jane Grey, He and Jane never left the Tower after waiting their coronation.

• Guildford was the son of John Dudley and also the brother to Robert Dudley,the future  Queen Elizabeth 1st Known Favourite

• On the 12th February Guildford Dudley was executed for High Treasonable

​

JULY Robert Dudley was imprisoned in the Tower of London, attainted, and condemned to death, as were his father and four brothers.

• While in the Tower, his stay coincided with the imprisonment of his childhood friend The princess Elizabeth. Robert would be her known favourite when she became Queen in 1558.

• Robert was the brother of Guildford Dudley and the son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland

• Robert and his remaing brothers who survived wereb released from the Tower in the Autum of 1554

 

14TH SEPTEMBER Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was imprisoned in the Tower for heresy.

• He stayed in the Tower before being sent to Oxford in 1554

• Thomas had been an important figure in the English reformation. He had crowned Anne Boleyn in 1533 as Queen of England and King Edward VI.

• Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake for heresy. On the 21st March 1556.

1554

18TH MARCH The future Queen Elizabeth I, was imprisoned in the Tower for two months

• Elizabeth was arrested for her alleged involvement in Wyatt's Rebellion.

• Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She was Queen of England Reign 17th November 1558 –24th March 1603

1560

20TH MAY Henry Cole was sent to the Tower

• Henry was imprisoned in relation to his Roman Catholic Beliefs.

• He was fined 500 marks, and then moved to Fleet prison on the 10th June that year. Where he remained for nearly twenty years, until his death.

1561

SEPTEMBER Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp of Hatch was born in the Tower

• He was the son of Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford and Catherine Grey, who was younger sister of Lady Lady Jane Grey Grey, "The Nine Day Queen".

• Edward;s mother had been imprisoned for secretly marrying his father, against the wishes of Queen Elizabeth I.

1571

3RD SEPTEMBER William Barker was arrested and put into the Tower

• William was one of the Duke of Norfolk' Thoomas Howard's secretaries, and was deeply implicated in the Ridolfi Plot

• He spent two years in the Tower and then retreated into obscurity

 

OCTOBER Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton was sent to the Tower

• Henry was imprisoned for his part in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Elizabeth I and replace her on the English throne with Mary, Queen of Scots.

• On the 1st May 1573, Henry Wriothesley was released from the Tower and placed in the custody of Sir William More at Loseley

 

15TH NOVEMBER Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland was sent to the Tower.

• He was imprisoned till June 1573 to the Tower for fhis involvement in several pro-Catholic and Marian plots,

• Henry was sent again to the Tower in 1582, and from December 1584 to June 21, 1585, when he was found shot to death in his cell; brought in as a suicide.

1581

MARCH Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford imprisoned in the Tower

• Edward was kept in the Tower till June 1581 for impregnating Anne Vavasour, one of the Queen's Maids of Honour, who had given birth to a son

 

MARCH Anne Vavasour, a Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth 1st was sent to the Tower of London

• This was for having an illegitimate son with Edward de Veree, 17th Earl of Oxford.

• Anne was released in that year and Edward de Vere returned to his wife Anne Cecil

1584

Blessed Thomas Belson was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower.

• In 1586 he was banished. However was arrested again in 1589
  Thomas was arrested due to his catholic beliefs.

• He was eventually was executed at Oxford on 5th July 1589

 

16TH SEPTEMBER William Crichton was sent to the Tower.

• William was in the Tower till May 1587.

• He was a was a Scottish Jesuit.

1585

25TH APRIL Saint Philip Howard, 1st Earl Of Arundel was committed to the Tower

• Philip spent ten years in the Tower, he Catholic recusant was he had been attempting to leave England without informing his wife was arrested at sea

• He was a second cousin (once removed) of the Queen. Elizabeth 1st of England

   

1586

3RD SEPTEMBER Anthony Babington was imprisoned in the Tower.

• Anthony was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots.. The "Babington Plot"

• He was convicted of high treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. at St Giles Field, near Holborn,

1587

• 27TH FEBRUARY UNTIL 23RD MARCH Sir Anthony Cope was imprisoned in the Tower.

• Anthony was imprisoned for presenting the Speaker of the House of Commons with a Puritan revision of the Book of Common Prayer and a bill abrogating existing ecclesiastical law.

• Anthony Cope would later entertained King James I at Hanwell, Oxfordshire in 1606 and 1612.

1592

JUNE Sir Walter Raleigh was sent to the Tower

• Walter's first time in the Tower was under Queen Elizabeth 1st of England,. This was due to the Fact secretly married to Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton (or Throgmorton). She was one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, 11 years his junior, and was pregnant at the time. He was released from prison in August 1592 to manage a recently returned expedition and attack on the Spanish coast.

• He was back in Tower in 1592, but by early 1593 had been released and become a member of Parliament

• Walter's third time in the Tower was in 1603. He had been charged with treason for his involvement in the Main Plot against Elizabeths successor, James I, He spent thirteen years imprisoned at the Tower but was able to live in relative comfort in the Bloody Tower with his wife and two children . He even grew tobacco on Tower Green, just outside his apartment. While imprisoned, he wrote The History of the World. In 1616, he was released to lead a second expedition in search of El Dorado.

• On the 29th October 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded in the Old Palace Yard at the Palace of Westminster for violation of both the terms of his pardon and the 1604 peace treaty with Spain.

1593

Henry Walpole was sent to the Tower a was an English Jesuit martyr.

• While incarcerated in the Salt Tower, he carved his name in the plaster along with those of saints Peter, Paul, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory the Great.

• Henry Walpole was was hanged, drawn and quartered in York on the 7th April 1595.

1594

John Gerard was captured and sent to the Tower.

• He was an English Jesuit priest operating undercover during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when Catholics were being persecuted

• John had been tortured by being repeatedly suspended from chains on the dungeon wall.

• John Gerard was kept in the Salt Tower before making a daring escape by rope across the moat in 1597.

1601

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton was sent to the Tower for his role in the Essex Rebellion

• When king James VI of Scotland, inherited the English Throne, henry was permitted to return to court

• 21ST FEBRUARY Sir Henry Bromley was sent to the Tower

• Although Henry Bromley did not take part in the Essex Rebellion he was sent to the Tower and Question in relation to it.

• Henry Wriothesley was fined, deprived of his position as JP and released from the Tower in May 1602

1605

6TH NOVEMBER Guy Fawkes was arrested and sent to the Tower for his role in the Gun Powder Plot.

• When Guy Fawkes confessed to his crime of treason, he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster. On the day of his execution on the 31st January 1606.However, he escaped his fate by jumping off the scaffold at the gallows which in turn broke his neck and killed him.

 

8TH NOVEMBER Everard Digby. Was arrested and sent to the Tower for his role in the Gun Powder Plot.

• He had given himself up to the authorities voluntary.

• On the 30th January 1606 Everard Digby was hung drawn and Quartered for high treason at Westminster, London, England

 

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland was arrested and sent to the Tower for his suspected role in the Gun Powder Plot.

• Henry spent the next 17 years as a prisoner and left the Tower in 1621

1607

`JULY William Wright, was sent to the Tower

• William was a Jesuit priest who was arrested in the aftermath of The Gunpowder Plot.

• He was later transfered to the White Lion Prison

1612

Nicholas Woodcock was imprisoned in the Tower spending sixteen months in the "gatehouse and tower" for piloting the first Spanish Whaleship to Spitsbergen

1613

22ND APRIL Thomas Overbury was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower

• Thomas had offended King James of England.Thomas died on the 15th September 1613 after being poisoned, his murder resulted in one of the biggest scandals of the era.

1614

JUNE Sir Charles Cornwallis was sent to the Tower and spent a year here

• He was suspected by the Privy Council of fanning the parliamentary opposition to the king James 1st England.

1615

8TH DECEMBER Anne Carr, Countess of Bedford was born in the Tower of London.

• Both Anne's parents had been imprisoned on charges of having participated in the fatal poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury

• Anne would be brought up in the Tower until 1622 when King James I pardoned the Earl and Countess of Somerset.

1634

Francis Nethersole was imprisoned for several months for having offended King Charles I of England by questioning the king's support for his sister.

• He was English diplomat, secretary to the Electress Elizabeth, the kings sister.

1638

Eleanor Davies was moved to the Tower

• After smuggling her illegally printed prophecies back into England from Amsterdam, she was arrested and fined £3000 and imprisoned.

• Eleanor was released in 1640

• Eleanor was a prolific writer and prophet, publishing almost 70 pamphlets during her lifetime.

1640

MAY Thomas Atkins was imprisoned in the Tower

• Thomas was imprisoned for refusing to list the inhabitants of his ward who were able to contribute £50 or more to a loan for King Charles.

• He was a Member of Parliament for Norwich 1640

• In 1657 Thomas was knighted by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell

 

William Laud was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason.

• He was Archbishop of Canterbury.1633–1645

• He was was imprisoned for five years until 10th January 1645 when he was executed for treason,

1646

Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet was committed to the Tower of London

• Thomas was the Lord Mayor of the City of London 1645 and a Member of Parliament for the City of London from 1654–1655 and 1656–1658.

• In 1626, she had been appointed Lady of the Bedchamber to Henrietta Maria, Queen of England

1649

21ST MARCH Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle was sent to the Tower

• Lucy was arrested for due to her support to the Royalists and Charles II of England.

• Lucy Hay, was released on bail on the  25th September 1650

1651

SEPTEMBER Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland was sent to the Tower

• He remained in the Tower until 1656

• Thomas had been a solider in the English Civil war for the Royalists.

 

SEPTEMBER Sir Thomas Dalyell of The Binns was sent to the Tower

• Thomas was imprisoned after he was captured at the Battle of Worcester on 3rd September 1651

• He  managed to escape the Tower in May 1652.

 

Sir William Davenant spent all of 1651 in the Tower for high treason, He is said to have been saved by the intervention of John Milton

• William was an English poet and playwright.

1658

Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield was sent to the Tower

• He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for wounding Captain John Whalley in a duel and on suspicion of involvement in Sir George Booth's rising

• He became Lord Chamberlain to Queen Catherine of Braganza (1662–1665)

1659

23RD AUGUST George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower

• George had been part of an Uprising against parliament. After the Battle of Winnington Bridge near Northwich. George himself escaped disguised as a woman, but was discovered at Newport Pagnell on the 23rd whilst having a shave .

• He was imprisoned till 1660 after soon liberated and returned to his seat in the Convention Parliament

1660

DECEMBER William Rainsborowe was imprisoned in the Tower on suspicion of treason

• He was released in February 1661.

• William was was an officer in the English Navy and New Model Army in England during the English Civil War

1661

25TH NOVEMBER Praise-God Barebone was imprisoned in the Tower of London

• In July 1660, following the Restoration, a royalist tract called The Picture of the Good Old Cause Drawn to the Life reprinted a petition Praise_God Barebone had made in February calling for Members of Parliament to deny rule by Charles II or any other single person was reasons for his arrest.

• He was freed on 27 July 1662 after a petition from his wife pleading his illness.

1663

Henry Oldenburg was imprisoned for one month, on suspicion of espionage.

• He had been corresponding with scientists across Europe.

• Henry was a was a German theologian known as a diplomat, a natural philosopher

1668

William Penn was imprisoned for seven monthsin the Tower for pamphleteering.

• William was the founder of the English North American colony the Province of Pennsylvania.

• He spent several months in the Tower and was released in 1669

1679

9TH JULY Sir Anthony Deane was sent to the Tower.

• He was bailed to appear for trial at a later date. The charges were not pressed, and on 14 February 1680 the was released from their bail

• Anthony had been a  Member of Parliament for Harwich 1679

1685

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth imprisoned for his role in the Monmouth Rebellion.

• He was the the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II  of England, , and his mistress Lucy Walter.

• James was executed on the 15th July 1685 at Tower Hill.

1696

FEBRUARY Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury and 3rd Earl of Elgin was committed to the Tower

• Thomas had been accused of of having conspired to plan the restoration of King James II

1712

Sir Robert Walpole, was imprisoned in the Tower for six months for corruption

• He had He was impeached by the House of Commons and found guilty by the House of Lords;

• Robert was regarded the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. 4th April 1721– 11th February 1742

1715

17TH JULY Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, was committed to the Tower of impeachment

• After an imprisonment of nearly two years, he was formally acquitted from the charges of high treason and high crimes and misdemeanours

• Robert had been Lord High Treasurer 1711–1714, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1710–1711

1721

MARCH John Aislabie was committed to the Tower

• He had been found guilty by the Commons of the "most notorious, dangerous and infamous corruption".

• John had been Chancellor of the Exchequer 1718–1721 and Treasurer of the Navy 1714–1718

1746

14TH AUGUST Sir John Douglas, 3rd Baronet of Kelhead was sent to the Tower

• He was arrested on suspicion of having favoured the cause of the Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart

• He was given bail in March 1748

 

Flora MacDonald, was imprisoned fin the Tower for assisting Bonnie Prince Charlie after Culloden.

• Flora was held for one year in the Tower

1771

Brass Crosby was sent to the Tower

• He was an English radical lawyer, Member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of the City of London.

1772

7TH FEBRUARY Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet

• He was released only a few weeks later after being imprisoned.

1776

23RD OCTOBER Stephen Sayre American resident of London was held in the Tower for high treason in an alleged plot to kidnap King George III.

• Stephen's charge was reduced from high treason to one of "treasonable practices". He was was finally released from the Tower, on payment of a bail of £1000, a very high figure for the day.

1780

Lord George Gordon, was imprisoned in the Tower for being a instigator of the Gordon Riots

• George spent spent 6 months in the Tower while awaiting trial on the charge of high treason.

 

Henry Laurens, was imprisoned in the Tower for treason.

• He had been the fifth President of the Continental Congress of Colonial America November 1st, 1777– December 9th, 1778

• On the 31st December 1781, he was released in exchange for General Lord Cornwallis

1799

Johan Anders Jägerhorn, was held in the Tower after participating in the Irish independence movement

• He was a Swedish officer from Finland,

• After two years’ imprisonment (1799–1801) in the Tower of London, Johan returned to Finland and was instrumental in shaping the constitution of newly autonomous Finland.

1916

APRIL Roger Casement was imprisoned in the Tower for buying guns from Germany to support The Easter Rising

• He had been arrested on charges of treason, sabotage and espionage against the Crown.

• Just before his trial, the British government circulated excerpts said to be from his private journals, known as the Black Diaries, which detailed homosexual activities.

• Roger Casement was hanged for on the 3rd August 1916 at HM Prison Pentonville London, England

1933

Norman Baillie-Stewart was a British officer caught selling military secrets to Germany and was sent to the Tower,

• Norman served four years in the Tower before being transferred to Maidstone prison on 20 January 1937 but he was not executed, because England was not at war with Germany. Hewas convicted of seven of the ten charges against him and was imprisoned for five years.

1941

MAY Rudolf Hess, the deputy leader of the Nazi Party, was the last state prisoner to be held in the Tower

1952

Twin brothers Ronald "Ronnie" Kray Were the last people to be held in the Tower for a few days in 1952, for failing to report for national service.

• Both brothers were held in the Tower before being transferred to Shepton Mallet military prison in Somerset for a month to await court-martial