- Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, was accused of treason and executed in the Tower in 1536.
- Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, refused to accept King Henry VIII's claimed authority over the church and was executed in the Tower in 1535.
- Sir Walter Raleigh, an explorer, courtier and writer, was implicated in a plot against King James I and was imprisoned in the Tower for 12 years.
- Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, which sought to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I, was executed in the Tower in 1606.
- Rudolf Hess, the deputy Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, was held prisoner in the Tower of London during and after World War II, until he was released in 1946.
- Peter Sutcliffe, the notorious serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, was imprisoned in the Tower during the late-1970s and early-1980s, before being transferred to a different prison.
These are just a few examples of the many people who have been detained in the Tower of London throughout its long and varied history.