Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1886-04-17 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

TRAGIC SUICIDE OF THE EARL  OF SHAFTESBURY.  The Earl of Shaftesbury committed suicide in London on Tuesday by shooting himself with a revolver in Regent-street while driving in a cab. It appears that his lordship engaged a hansom in the upper part of Regent-street shortly after four o'clock in the afternoon, and directed the cabman to drive down Regent-street. The latter did so, but on reaching the end of the street the Earl told the man to return, and he was driven back again to the other end of the thoroughfare, when he again ordered the cab to be turned round. This was Alone several times, and when the cab was near Oxford-street, about half-toilet four, the.cabman heard a shot, and, on jumping down, the Earl, who was unknown to the man, said "it's all right, cabman; drive on." The cabman. said, "Yes, I know it's all right; but what is this ?" He pointed to a hole in the front part of the cab, near the glass panel of the door ledge on the left side, which had been made by the bullet, and said, "I value my life too much to drive on." The cabman was, however, shout to mount the box again when a second shot was fired by the unfortunate nobleman, which penetrated his left temple. A policeman came up at that moment, having heard the first report, and he at once told the cabman to drive to the Middlesex Hospital. A crowd collected around the vehicle, but the Earl was not recognised by anyone until the hospital was reached, a few minutes afterwards. There the policeman and the driver of the cab carried his lordship, who was still breathing, into the in-patients ward, and called the assistance of the house surgeon, Dr. Bartlett, to him. But Lord Shaftesbury was just breathing his last, and was beyond all help when the doctor reached him, the bullet having penetrated the brain. Meanwhile an intimation of the sad event had been sent to the friends of the Earl, and in a short time the Countess of Shaftesbury &hived, followed by his lordship's butler, but only to learn that the worst had occurred. The revolver used by the ill-fated nobleman was a six-chambered one, and it was evident from the position of the first shot that it had, in the first instance, gone off accidentally, while from the terrible nature of the fatal wound it would seem that he was determined to complete the desperate act of self-destruction. The news of the tragedy soon spread, and created a profound sensation in the West I End. His lordship, who was 55 years of age, ' succeeded his father, the well-known philanthropist, so recently as the let October last. He was formerly in the Royal Navy, and served in the Black Sea and the Baltic daring the Crimean war. He was attached to Earl Granville's special Embassy to Moscow in 1856, and sat in the House of Commons for Hull from 1857 to 1859, and for Cricklade from the latter year to 1865. He married a daughter of the third Marquis of Donegal, and, amongst several children, has a son (Lord Ashley), born in 1861, who will succeed to the title. The deceased Earl had for some time been unwell, and bad complained of mental depression.—An inquest was held on the body of the deceased Earl on Thursday, when a verdict of" Suicide whilst of unsound mind" was returned.