William Parry is described in a Sunday Times review as "Welshman, gentleman in distressed circumstances, snob, liar, money-lover and double agent". He didn't work for MI6 but for Francis Walsingham, during the reign of Elizabeth I. He is one of the characters who turns up in a new book by academic, Stephen Alford, called The Watchers: A Secret History of Reign of Elizabeth I.

Unlike John Somerville, who set out from his home in Warwickshire to assassinate Elizabeth, he did not stop at a pub and tell everyone what he was about to do. Clearly, for a time at least, Parry was a successful spy but his debts caused him to play both sides of the coin and, although he gave Walsingham a great deal of useful information, he also hatched a plot of his own to kill the Queen. He was hanged, drawn and quartered but protested until the end that he was loyal to the monarch. I found something else on the internet about him at www.rarebookbuyer.com/webuyoldbooks/2012/01/02/printed-1584-william-parry-the-remarkable-doctor-and-double-agent/

I'm going to keep an eye for more information as his story sounds really interesting and would, I'm sure, make a good film or book.

updated by @gaynor-madoc-leonard: 11/11/15 10:38:22PM