The exact place of this conspirator in the Northumberland pedigree has
been the subject of much question. He is commonly said to have been a
near relative of the Earl; but Gerard thinks that "he was not very near
in blood, although they called him cousin." Among the various
suggestions offered, that appears to be the best-founded which
identifies him not with the Percys of Scotton, but as the son of Edward
Percy of Beverley, whose father, Joscelyn, was a younger son of the
fourth Earl. The wife of Joscelyn was Margaret Frost; the wife of
Edward, and mother of the conspirator, was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
Thomas Waterton of Walton, Yorkshire--of the family of the famous
naturalist, Charles Waterton, of whom it was said that he felt tenderly
towards every living thing but two--a poacher and a Protestant. The
character of Percy, as sketched by one of the Jesuit narrators, is
scarcely consistent with that given by the other. Greenway writes of
him, "He was about forty-six years of age, though from the whiteness of
his head, he appeared to be older; his figure was tall and handsome, his
eyes large and lively, and the expression of his countenance pleasing,
though grave; and notwithstanding the boldness of his mind, his manners
were gentle and quiet." Gerard says, "He had been very wild in his
youth, more than ordinary, and much given to fighting--so much so that
it was noted in him and in Mr John Wright... that if they heard of any
man in the country more valiant than the others, one or other of them
would pick a quarrel to make trial of his valour... He had a great wit,
and a very good delivery of his mind, and so was able to speak as well
as most in the things wherein he had experience. He was tall, and of a
very comely face and fashion; of age near fifty, as I take it, for his
head and beard was much changed white." The proclamation for his
apprehension describes him as "a tall man, with a great broad beard, a
good face, the colour of his beard and head mingled with white hairs,
but his head more white than his beard. He stoupes somewhat in the
shoulders, well coloured in face, longe foted, smale legged." Percy was
steward and receiver of rents to his kinsman the Earl, whose rents he
appropriated to the purposes of the plot--without the owner's knowledge,
if his earnest denial may be trusted. Percy married Martha, sister of
John and Christopher Wright, by whom he had three children: Elizabeth,
who died young, and was buried at Alnwick, 2nd February 1602; a daughter
(name unknown), who married young Robert Catesby; and Robert Percy, of
Taunton, who married Emma Meade at Wivelscomb, 22nd October 1615, and
was the founder of the line of Percy of Cambridge. Percy's widow lived
privately in London after his execution.