Guy's father was a church lawyer who lived in Stone gate (near where numbers 32-34 stand today).Guy went to the 'York Free School',the predecessor of st Peter's School,just outside the city walls. Whilst there, Guy made friends with john and Christopher Wright who were Roman Catholics. Guy's father died when he was nine and his mother married Denis Bainbridge. also a Roman Catholic. There events may have led to Guy becoming a support of Roman Catholics. In 1591 Guy sold a house he had inherited in clifton for nearly £30. He then went to fight for the Spanish against the Protestants in the Netherlands where he became an explosive expert