Sir Thomas Fleming was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1611. He was judge in the trial of Guy Fawkes following the Gunpowder Plot. He held several important offices, including Lord Chief Justice, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Solicitor General for England and Wales.
Portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
Fleming's tomb, which is shared with his wife; the surviving children are represented by the praying statuettes
The Fleming Arms pub in Swaythling
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against King James I by a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who considered their actions attempted tyrannicide and who sought regime change in England after decades of religious persecution.
A late 17th- or early 18th-century report of the plot
Elizabeth I, queen from 1558 to 1603
King James's daughter Elizabeth, whom the conspirators planned to install on the throne as a Catholic queen. Portrait by Robert Peake the Elder, National Maritime Museum.
A contemporary engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by Crispijn van de Passe. Missing are Digby, Keyes, Rookwood, Grant, and Tresham.