Baron William Parker Monteagle

Born in 1575, William Parker was an English peer who held the titles 4th Baron Monteagle and 11th Baron Morley. He is remembered above all for his connection to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, after receiving the warning now known as the Monteagle letter, which alerted authorities to the danger surrounding the planned opening of Parliament.

Parker came from a noble family with Catholic connections, and his life unfolded during a period when religious tensions shaped public life in England. That background has made historians especially interested in his role: he has often been seen not just as the man who received the warning, but as a figure caught between competing loyalties in a dangerous political world.

He died on 1 July 1622. Though many details of his life are overshadowed by the events of 1605, his name remains closely tied to the survival of King James I and the failure of one of the most famous conspiracies in English history.