 Born in about 1565 , Robert Keyes was the son of the Protestant Rector of Staveley in North Derbyshire . His mother was a daughter of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of Kettleby in Lincolnshire , and related to the Catholic Babthorpes of Osgodby . Keyes ' first cousin Elizabeth Tyrrwhitt was married to another member of the plot , Ambrose Rookwood . By 1604 , Robert had converted to Catholicism . His wife Christina , a widow when he married her , was the governess for the children of Henry Mordaunt , 4th Baron Mordaunt , at Drayton in Northamptonshire , and for this Keyes gained the use of horses and other amenities . 
