The Assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval | The Public Domain Review ..or BROWSE BY TAG The Assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval Only once has a British Prime Minister been assassinated. Two hundred years ago, on the 11th May 1812, John Bellingham shot dead the Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval as he entered the House of Commons. David C. Hanrahan tells the story. Illustration of the shooting, artist unknown. (Source: Norris Museum) On Monday 11 May, 1812, an unremarkable, anonymous man, just over forty years of age, made his way to the Houses of Parliament. The man had become a frequent visitor there over the previous few weeks, sitting in the gallery of the House of Commons and carefully examining the various members of the government through his opera glasses. At 5.00 p.m. on this particular day he walked into the lobby that led to the House of Commons and sat near the fireplace. No-one could have known that he was carrying, concealed on his person, two loaded pistols. As it was a fine evening Mr.

Spencer Perceval, the Tory First Lord of the Treasury, or Prime Minister, had decided to dispense with his carriage and walk from No. 10, Downing Street, to the Houses of Parliament. He arrived there around 5.15pm, entered the building and walked down the corridor towards the lobby entrance to the House of Commons. He handed his coat to the officer positioned outside the doors to the lobby. As Mr. Perceval entered the lobby a number of people were gathered around in conversation as was the usual practice. Most turned to look at him as he came through the doorway. No-one noticed as the quiet man stood up from beside the fire place, removing a pistol from his inner pocket as he did so. Neither did anyone notice as the man walked calmly towards the Prime Minister. When he was close enough, without saying a word, the man fired his pistol directly at Mr. Perceval’s chest. The Prime Minister staggered forward before falling to the ground, calling out as he did so words that witnesses later recalled in different ways as: “I am murdered!” or ‘Murder, Murder’ or ‘Oh God!’ or ‘Oh my God!’ Amid the confusion, a number of people raised Mr.

Perceval from the ground and carried him into the nearby Speaker’s apartments. They placed him in a sitting position on a table, supporting him on either side. Most ominously, the Prime Minister had not uttered a single word since falling on the floor of the lobby, and the only noises to have emanated from him since had been a few pathetic sobs. After a short time Mr. Smith MP, on failing to find any perceptible sign of a pulse, announced his terrible conclusion to the group of stunned onlookers that the Prime Minister was dead. The Assassination of Spencer Perceval, illustration by Walter Stanley Paget (1861-1908) from Cassell's Illustrated History of England. Vol.5 (1909) Before long Mr. William Lynn, a surgeon situated at No. 15 Great George Street, arrived on the scene and confirmed that Mr. Smith was indeed correct. The surgeon noted the blood all over the deceased Prime Minister’s coat and white waistcoat. His examination of the body revealed a wound on the left side of the chest over the fourth rib. It was obvious that a rather large pistol ball had entered there. Mr.

Lynn probed an instrument into the wound and found that it went downwards and inwards towards the heart. The wound was more than three inches deep. The Prime Minister, who was not yet fifty years of age, left behind a widow, Jane, and twelve children. In the shock of what had happened, the assassin was almost forgotten. The man had not attempted to escape as he might well have done amid the confusion. Instead, he had returned quietly to his seat beside the fireplace. The identity of the man was revealed as John Bellingham, not a violent radical but a businessman from Liverpool. The details of his story soon began to emerge. As a result of a dispute with some Russian Businessmen, Bellingham had been imprisoned in Russia in 1804 accused of owing a debt. He had been held in various prisons there for the next 5 years. Throughout all of this time he had pleaded with the British authorities for assistance in fighting his cause for justice. He believed that they had not given his case sufficient attention. Bellingham was finally released from gaol and returned to England in 1809 a very bitter man.

He felt deep resentment against the British authorities and immediately set about seeking financial compensation from them for his suffering and loss of business. Once again, however, Bellingham felt that he was being ignored. He petitioned the Foreign Secretary, the Treasury, the Privy Council, the Prime Minister, even the Prince Regent, but all to no avail. No one was willing to hear his case for compensation. Finally, he came to the insane decision that the only way for him to get a hearing in court was to shoot the Prime Minister. Detail from a painting of The Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, in the year of his death, 1812, by George Francis Joseph. (Source: National Portrait Gallery) On the Friday following the assassination of the Prime Minister, John Bellingham did indeed get his day in court, but only to answer a charge of murder. His trial took place in a packed court room at the Old Bailey, presided over by Sir James Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. The tall, thin Bellingham came before the court wearing dark nankeen trousers, a yellow waistcoat with black stripes and a brown greatcoat.

The members of his defence team first attempted to get the trial postponed on the grounds that they had not been given sufficient time to prepare for the case. Mr. Peter Alley, Bellingham’s chief counsel, told the court that he had only been given the case the day before and that he had never even met Mr. Bellingham until that very day. He asserted that given adequate time, in particular to find medical experts and witnesses in Liverpool who knew Mr. Bellingham personally, he was confident he could prove his client to be insane. The Attorney General, Sir Vicary Gibbs, on behalf of the prosecution, argued vehemently against any such postponement. Ultimately Mr. Allen’s request was unsuccessful and the trial proceeded. The Attorney General set about dismantling the reason Bellingham had given as justification for his heinous act by arguing that the Government had been aware of what had happened to him in Russia, had examined his claims and had rejected them. He also rejected any notion that Bellingham was insane. He said that Bellingham had been well able to conduct his business and had been trusted by other to conduct theirs without any hint of insanity on his behalf.

Titlepage from the pamphlet 'The Trial of John Bellingham for the Wilful murder of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, in the lobby of the House of Commons' (Source: National Library of Medicine) When his time came to speak, Bellingham continued to base his defence upon what had happened to him in Russia: his unjust arrest for a debt he did not owe and the failure of the British Government to assist at that time and since. Before outlining the details of his experience in Russia, he stated that he was pleased the judge had not accepted his counsel’s arguments alleging his insanity. He made it clear that although he believed what he had done to be necessary and justified, he bore Mr. Perceval or his family no personal malice: Gentlemen, as to the lamentable catastrophe for which I am now on my trial before this court, if I am the man that I am supposed to be, to go and deliberately shoot Mr. Perceval without malice, I should consider myself a monster, and not fit to live in this world or the next.

The learned Attorney General has candidly stated to you, that till this fatal time of this catastrophe, which I heartily regret, no man more so, not even one of the family of Mr. Perceval, I had no personal or premeditated malice towards that gentleman; the unfortunate lot had fallen upon him as the leading member of that administration which had repeatedly refused me any reparation for the unparalleled injuries I had sustained in Russia for eight years with the cognizance and sanction of the minister of the country at the court of St. Petersburg. Bellingham was clear about where he felt the blame lay for Spencer Perceval’s death: A refusal of justice was the sole cause of this fatal catastrophe; his Majesty’s ministers have now to reflect upon their conduct for what has happened. . . . Mr. Perceval has unfortunately fallen the victim of my desperate resolution. No man, I am sure, laments the calamitous event more than I do. In the end, of course, his arguments for justification had no influence upon a judge and jury shocked by his horrific murder of the Prime Minister.

The Lord Chief Justice even became openly emotional and began to cry at one point during his statement to the jury: Gentlemen of the jury, you are now to try an indictment which charges the prisoner at the bar with the wilful murder . . . of Mr. Spencer Perceval, . . . who was murdered with a pistol loaded with a bullet; . . . a man so dear, and so revered as that of Mr. Spencer Perceval, I find it difficult to suppress my feelings. He dismissed any idea that Bellingham might have been insane at the time of committing the crime: . . . there was no proof adduced to show that his understanding was so deranged, as not to enable him to know that murder was a crime. On the contrary, the testimony adduced in his defence, has most distinctly proved, from a description of his general demeanour, that he was in every respect a full and competent judge of all his actions. In such circumstances it is no surprise that John Bellingham was found guilty of Spencer Perceval’s murder by a jury that took only fourteen minutes to reach a verdict. On the following Monday he was executed and his body sent for dissection to St.

Bartholomew’s hospital. He is remembered in history as the only assassin ever of a British Prime Minister. Following his execution John Bellingham's skull became the subject of research for phrenologists, representing the head of a destructive personality. Shown here is a comparison of Bellingham's skull with that of a 'Hindoo', from A System of Phrenology (1834) by George Combe Spencer Perceval assassinated | History Today Spencer Perceval assassinated The only British Prime Minister to be assassinated whilst in office was murdered on May 11th, 1812. Portrait of Spencer Perceval in 1816 by George Francis Joseph All that is generally remembered about Spencer Perceval is that he was the only British prime minister ever to be assassinated. By all accounts he was a thoroughly decent, honourable and competent man, but he was cut off in his prime and failed to make any lasting mark. A lawyer, born in London, the younger son of an aristocratic family and educated at Harrow and Cambridge, he became an MP in his thirties in 1796.

He was a Tory and a strong supporter of Pitt the Younger and the war against Napoleon. After being solicitor general and attorney general he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer under the Duke of Portland in 1807 following Pitt’s death and became premier himself in 1809. In his book The Assassination of the Prime Minister David Hanrahan gives a vividly detailed account of that sunny Monday afternoon in May when at about a quarter past five the 49-year-old Spencer Perceval entered the lobby of the House of Commons on his way into the chamber. A man who had been sitting quietly by the fireplace stood up, walked towards the prime minister, took a pistol out of his overcoat and fired it at Perceval, hitting him in the chest. The prime minister staggered and fell, crying out ‘I am murdered!’ There were naturally moments of complete astonishment as the man who had fired the shot walked back to the fireplace and sat down again. He made no attempt to get away as an MP called William Smith (future grandfather of Florence Nightingale) and several others carried the stricken Perceval to the Speaker’s apartments, where they sat him on a table, holding him up.

He said nothing more and uttered only a few sounds that Smith described as ‘convulsive sobs’. By the time a doctor arrived Perceval was dead. The pistol ball had struck him in the ribs. In the lobby meanwhile the murderer was seized and his pistol was taken from him. It turned out that it had been hidden in a specially made pocket in his overcoat. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing and sweat was pouring down his face. A journalist on the scene now remembered seeing him frequently in the visitors’ gallery of the House of Commons asking the identities of members who were speaking, including Cabinet ministers. The man said his name was John Bellingham and he was discovered to have another pistol on him, which was primed and loaded. After some anxiety about whether Bellingham had accomplices with him who might try to rescue him, on the directions of the Speaker he was taken to the Serjeant at Arms’ quarters to be questioned. He remained surprisingly cool and collected and admitted the killing, but said: ‘I have been denied the redress of my grievances by government; I have been ill-treated.

They all know who I am and what I am … I am a most unfortunate man and feel here … sufficient justification for what I have done.’ News of what had happened spread swiftly beyond the Palace of Westminster and there were fears that the murder might set off outbreaks of violence among the lower orders, many of whom were angry about the serious condition of the economy and the war with France. By about eight o’clock, when a coach arrived to take Bellingham to Newgate Prison, a mob had gathered outside and some of them tried to rescue him and had to be forced back by Life Guards. It was not until about midnight that a coach escorted by troops took him to Newgate, where he was put in irons and shut in a cell which was guarded all night. He soon nodded off and spent the rest of the night peacefully asleep. Perceval left a devoted wife and 12 children.

Though he was not remotely the equal of Pitt, one of his political opponents said of him: ‘He is not a ship of the line, but he carries many guns, is tight-built, and is out in all weathers.’ He was buried on May 16th and the Commons voted him a monument in Westminster Abbey and a substantial grant to his wife and family. John Bellingham was a businessman in his forties, who in 1804 had been falsely imprisoned for debt in Russia. The British embassy would not help him and when he was released in 1809 he returned to England seeking compensation from the British government, which kept turning him down. His sense of grievance mounted to the point where he decided to kill the prime minister. He was tried at the Old Bailey, his lawyer’s plea of insanity was not accepted and he was found guilty. He was hanged at Newgate on May 18th, two days after his victim’s funeral.

Related articles Spencer Perceval: Plaque for assassinated prime minister - BBC News BBC News Spencer Perceval: Plaque for assassinated prime minister 21 July 2014 Close share panel Image copyright PA Image caption Spencer Perceval was shot as he entered Parliament in the evening to attend a debate A memorial plaque has been unveiled for the only British prime minister to be assassinated. Spencer Perceval is said to have uttered "Oh, I have been murdered" after John Bellingham shot him on 11 May 1812 as he entered Parliament. The plaque at St Stephen's Hall, which is near to where he was killed, was the idea of Michael Ellis, MP for Northampton North. Mr Ellis said the brass plaque was a "fitting tribute" and long overdue. Bellingham was a businessman who had built up a grievance with the government headed by Mr Perceval, who had been MP for Northampton, after the British Embassy had refused to help while he was in jail in Russia.

Image copyright PA Image caption John Bellingham built up a sense of grievance after being refused help while jailed in Russia He waited in the lobby of the Palace of Westminster for Mr Perceval, who was on his way to attend an inquiry into Luddite riots. Descendant of assassin Bellingham calmly walked up to him and shot him in the chest before sitting down and waiting to be arrested, reports at the time said. He was taken to Newgate Gaol, tried and hanged in the space of just over a week. Mr Perceval was given a memorial in Westminster Abbey. But Mr Ellis started a campaign for another tribute after four patterned floor tiles, thought to mark where Mr Perceval fell, were removed by workmen during a recent renovation of the Palace of Westminster. "People know more about the assassination of (US presidents) John F Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln than they do about our own prime minister," Mr Ellis said. "When my constituents visit Parliament from Northampton, they want to see this spot and they are fascinated by this being the spot of an assassination of a former MP for the town that I now have the honour to represent." North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham, a descendant of the assassin, also attended the unveiling.

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow insisted no grudges were held against the current Mr Bellingham as he unveiled the plaque near to the assassination spot. History of Spencer Perceval - GOV.UK GOV.UK Spencer Perceval Tory 1809 to 1812 Born 1 November 1762, Audley Square, London Died 11 May 1812, Lobby of the House of Commons Dates in office Tory Major acts Regency Bill 1810: due to George III’s ill health the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent. Interesting facts He was the only Prime Minister to be assassinated whilst holding office. The current Conservative MP Henry Bellingham is a direct descendent of the assassin John Bellingham. During a debate on corrupt electoral practices: “I have nothing to say to the nothing that has been said”. Spencer Perceval enjoys the unfortunate distinction of being the only British Prime Minister to die at the hands of an assassin. His political career coincided with a period of upheaval created by the French Revolution. Having pursued a successful legal career, he was slowly drawn into politics.

British Prime Minister Assassinated | Pocket Book British Prime Minister Assassinated 25 December 2013 by Andy Gryce The assassination of the Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in the lobby of the House of Commons on 11 May 1812 Just over two hundred years ago, on 11 May 1812, John Bellingham, a Liverpool businessman shot dead the Rt Hon Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister at the time, as he entered the House of Commons. Spencer Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. At 5.15 on the evening of Monday 11 May 1812, it being a fine evening, Spencer Perceval walked from 10 Downing Street to the Houses of Parliament to attend a debate in the House of Commons. The debate was to rescind the ‘orders in council’ that prevented nations trading with France. These were the chief plank in Perceval’s policy for the defeat of Napoleon.

Outside of the lobby to the House of Commons Perceval handed his coat to the officer positioned outside the doors, but as he entered the lobby a man who had been sat near the fireplace, stepped forward, and without saying a word drew a pistol and shot Perceval in the chest. Perceval fell to the floor, after uttering something that was variously heard as ‘murder’ or ‘oh my God’. They were his last words. By the time he had been carried into the nearby office of the Speaker’s secretary and propped up on a table, he was senseless, although there was still a faint pulse. When a surgeon, William Lynn, arrived from Great George Street a few minutes later, the pulse had stopped, and Perceval was declared dead. The surgeon noted a wound three inches deep on the left side of the chest over the fourth rib where a large pistol ball had entered. Perceval’s body was taken back to 10 Downing Street, and on the following morning an inquest was held at the Cat and Bagpipes public house on the corner of Downing Street, and a verdict of wilful murder was returned.

Spencer Perceval Painting by George Francis Joseph, 1812 © National Portrait Gallery, London Spencer Perceval, the younger son of an Irish earl, was 49 at the time of his death and had been Prime Minister under George III (and the Prince Regent during the ‘madness’ of George III) since 4 October 1809. He was a follower of William Pitt (the previous Prime Minister but one), but described himself as a ‘friend of Mr Pitt’ rather than a Tory. Perceval was opposed to Catholic emancipation and reform of Parliament; he supported the war against Napoleon and the abolition of the slave trade. He was opposed to hunting, gambling and adultery, did not drink as much as most Members of Parliament, gave generously to charity, and enjoyed spending time with his wife Jane and their twelve children. Perceval’s assassin did not attempt to escape from the House of Commons but calmly returned to his seat beside the fireplace. Sir Banastre Tarleton and Isaac Gascoyne, the two MPs for Liverpool, identified the man as John Bellingham, a merchant from Liverpool. The details of his story soon began to emerge.

Bellingham had been imprisoned for debt in the port of Archangel in Russia in 1804 and had been held in various prisons for the next 5 years. The debt had been alleged by the owner of a Russian ship that had sunk in the White Sea, who believed that Bellingham had told Lloyd’s, the shipping insurers, that the loss of the ship was actually sabotage. During his time in prison, Bellingham had pleaded unsuccessfully with the British ambassador in St Petersburg and with British authorities for help with his case. On his release in 1809, he returned to England full of resentment. Bellingham believed the government was morally bound to compensate him for his loss of business. He petitioned the Foreign Secretary, the Treasury, the Privy Council, the Prime Minister, even the Prince Regent, all to no avail, the main reason being that Britain had broken off diplomatic relations with Russia in November 1808. Once again Bellingham felt that he was being ignored. Finally, he decided that the only way for him to get a hearing in court was to shoot the Prime Minister.

John Bellingham drawn at the Sessions House Old Bailey 15 May 1812 Painting by Denis Dighton © National Portrait Gallery, London On the Friday following the assassination of the Prime Minister, the 15 May, John Bellingham was in court but to answer a charge of murder. His trial at the Old Bailey was presided over by Sir James Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Mr Peter Alley, Bellingham’s chief counsel, tried to have the trial postponed on the grounds that they had not been given sufficient time to prepare for the case saying that he had only been given the case the day before and that he had never even met Mr. Bellingham until that very day. He asserted that given adequate time, in particular to find medical experts and witnesses in Liverpool who knew Mr Bellingham personally, he was confident he could prove his client to be insane. The Attorney General, Sir Vicary Gibbs, on behalf of the prosecution, argued vehemently against any such postponement. Mr Allen’s request was unsuccessful and the trial proceeded.

The Attorney General in presenting his case argued that the Government had been aware of what had happened to Mr Bellingham in Russia, had examined his claims, and had rejected them. He also rejected any notion that Bellingham was insane since he had been well able to conduct his business and had been trusted by other to conduct theirs without any hint of insanity on his behalf. When his time came to speak, Bellingham said first of all that he was pleased the judge had not accepted his counsel’s arguments alleging his insanity. ‘Gentlemen, As to the lamentable catastrophe for which I am now on my trial before this court, if I am the man that I am supposed to be, to go and deliberately shoot Mr. Perceval without malice, I should consider myself a monster, and not fit to live in this world or the next. … I had no personal or premeditated malice towards that gentleman; the unfortunate lot had fallen upon him as the leading member of that administration which had repeatedly refused me any reparation for the unparalleled injuries I had sustained in Russia for eight years with the cognizance and sanction of the minister of the country at the court of St. Petersburg.’ Newgate Prison around 1812.

The prison was demolished in 1904, and the Central Criminal Court (also known as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands) now stands on the site Once all the witnesses had been examined (closing arguments by the defence and prosecution were not allowed at that time), Sir James Mansfield addressed the jury, during which he became openly emotional and at one point cried. ‘Gentlemen of the jury, you are now to try an indictment which charges the prisoner at the bar with the wilful murder (here the learned judge was so hurt by his feelings, that he could not proceed for several seconds) of Mr. Spencer Perceval, (in a faint voice) who was murdered with a pistol loaded with a bullet; when he mentioned the name of (here again his lordship was sincerely affected, and burst into tears, in which he was joined by the greatest portion of the persons in court) a man so dear, and so revered as that of Mr. Spencer Perceval, I find it difficult to suppress my feelings.

He dismissed any idea that John Bellingham might have been insane at the time of committing the crime, saying that on the contrary, the testimony adduced in his defence had most distinctly proved that he was in every respect a full and competent judge of all his actions. It was no surprise then that John Bellingham was found guilty of Spencer Perceval’s murder. After a consultation of two minutes and a half in the box, the jury expressed a wish to retire, but took only fourteen minutes to reach a verdict. On the following Monday, 18 May, John Bellingham was hanged in public outside Newgate Prison and his body sent for dissection to St Bartholomew’s hospital nearby. The full transcript of the trial is here There have been three books about the assassination, the first, The Assassination of the Prime Minister: The shocking death of Spencer Perceval by Molly Gillen was published by Sidgwick and Jackson in 1972, and the second, The Assassination of the Prime Minister: John Bellingham and the Murder of Spencer Perceval by David C Hanrahan was published by The History Press in 2008.

The third, Why Spencer Perceval Had to Die by Andro Linklater was published by Bloomsbury in 2012. Linklater adds little to the facts explored by the two previous authors but he explores the possibility that although Bellingham insisted that he wasn’t part of a plot, it was an obvious possibility. Working-class discontent seethed as a result of the harsh economic climate caused by the Napoleonic Wars, and was manifested in the outpouring of popular applause and hurrahs for Bellingham that greeted the news of the assassination when it reached the streets. William Cobbett, who was at that time imprisoned for political libel, saw from his cell ‘mournful tears’ running down the faces of the crowd at the public execution and ‘heard the unanimous blessings’ and gratitude to Bellingham for having ‘ridded’ them of ‘the leader amongst those whom they thought totally bent on the destruction of their liberties’. But no evidence was ever found of any radicals’ complicity in the murder. Linklater’s alternative theory is that Bellingham must have had financial help during the five months he spent in London seeking redress for his grievance.

Although he was supposed to be impoverished, Bellingham paid his bills and did not live frugally. These sponsors, who must have known of Bellingham’s murderous intent, may have stood to gain if the ‘orders in council’ banning all trade with France were rescinded, and that Perceval’s assassination was the means to achieve this. Although Linklater names the conspirators, he produces no hard evidence, so the theory hardly adds up to much of a conspiracy. Bust and memorial to Spencer Perceval in St Luke’s Anglican parish church in Charlton, London. The body is buried in the sealed family vault under the floor of the church. © Stephen Craven/Creative Commons Licence Perceval was buried on Saturday 16 May, the day after John Bellingham’s trial, in the Egmont family vault at St Luke’s Church, Charlton in south-east London. Perceval was the seventh son of the second Earl of Egmont, a title in the Peerage of Ireland. At his widow’s request, it was a private funeral. There were soon rumours that he had not left his widow, Jane, and his twelve children aged between three and twenty, well provided for.

He had just £106 5s 1d in the bank when he died. On the 13 May, Parliament voted to settle £50,000 on Perceval’s children, with an additional annuity of £2,000 for his widow which on her death would transfer to the oldest son, also called Spencer. And on 15 May, after a some wrangling between the Whigs and Tories, the Commons further agreed to erect a monument to Perceval in Westminster Abbey, and for the younger Spencer Perceval to receive an annuity in his own right of £1,000 per annum to date from the previous Monday, the date of his father’s death. Three years later Jane Perceval married Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Carrand, but was widowed again six years later. She died aged 74 in 1844. In a curious echo from the past, Henry Bellingham, who is descended from a relative of Bellingham’s, was elected in 1983 as the Conservative Member of Parliament for North West Norfolk.

But in 1997 he lost the seat by 1,339 votes to the Labour candidate, and this could be attributed in part to the 2,923 votes received by the eurosceptic Referendum Party candidate Roger Percival, who claimed, despite the different spelling, to be descended from Spencer Perceval. At the time The Independent depicted the local contest, which focused heavily on Britain’s role in Europe, as a conflict between the descendants of the two protagonists from two hundred years previously. This time ‘the roles are reversed with Roger Perceval the assassin lurking in the wings ready to strike at an increasingly nervous Henry Bellingham’ and that it was Labour’s Dr George Turner ‘who could gain the ultimate prize from Mr Percival’s assassination of Mr Bellingham’s election hopes’. However Henry Bellingham was re-elected in 2001, and remains the MP for the North West Norfolk constituency. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) from 2010 to 2012. He recently failed in his bid to become Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

Spencer Perceval (1762-1812) Spencer Perceval (1762-1812) [ Victorian Web Home —> Political History —> Prime Ministers ] Spencer Perceval, only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated, served in that office from 4 October 1809 to 11 May 1812. He was born on 1 November 1762, the second son and fifth of nine children born to John Perceval, second Earl of Egmont, and his second wife Catherine Compton. From his father's first marriage, Spencer Perceval had seven half-brothers and sisters. The family was Irish in ancestry. Perceval was educated at Harrow and Trinity , Cambridge, being awarded his College's Declamation Prize for English. He was awarded an MA in 1782 and was called to the Bar in 1786, practising on the Midland Circuit. He became Deputy Recorder of Northampton in 1790, the year in which he married Jane Spencer-Wilson in 1790: the couple had six sons and six daughters.

Between 1794 and 1803, during the French Wars, Perceval was a member of the London and Westminster Light Horse Volunteers. In 1796, Perceval became MP for Northampton, a seat which he held until his death in 1812. During his time as an MP, he held a number of government posts including that of Solicitor General (Jan 1801-April 1802), Attorney General (April 1802-February 1806) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (March 1807-May 1812). Perceval was always a supporter of the government and this brought sinecures which kept him solvent until his legal career took off. He was the chief legal adviser to the Princess of Wales in the hearing of misconduct held in 1806; although she was found guilty of 'grossly indelicate conduct', Perceval was instrumental in arranging her reconciliation with George III. Always anti-Catholic, Spencer Perceval opposed Grenville 's government's attempt to introduce concessions to Catholics in Ireland in 1807, thus contributing significantly to the fall of the ministry.

Spencer Perceval was almost 47 years old when George III appointed him as Prime Minister on 4 October 1809. Perceval's lasting claim to fame is that, so far, he is the only British PM to have been assassinated. As a politician, Perceval was industrious, well-organised, and capable. He held the posts of PM and Chancellor of the Exchequer concurrently; while he had a conservative outlook on society, he supported the anti-slavery campaign led by Wilberforce. He was a successful finance minister but opposed concessions to Catholics, particularly in Ireland . Perceval's political career prior to his appointment as PM included him holding the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer in Portland's second ministry. In May 1807 the general election strengthened Portland 's majority and proved to be Perceval's last electoral contest. On 26 June the new Parliament met to hear the King's Speech, written largely by Perceval; on 7 July 1807 following Napoleon's successes at Eylau and Friedland, the Treaty of Tilsit was signed by the Czar and Emperor. It was thought to contain secret threats to besiege Britain.

Consequently, the Government ordered a pre-emptive strike against the Danish fleet at Copenhagen after which the Danes surrendered. On 11 November there was fierce opposition in Parliament both to the action against Denmark and to the Orders in Council subsequently drafted by Perceval, designed to impose retaliatory trade restrictions on neutral countries. His Bill eventually was passed on 11 March 1808; in February his Budget had to cover expenditures of about ï¿½49 million. War taxes were estimated to produce only ï¿½20 million, and after other duties and taxes and with lottery income of ï¿½350,000 a total of ï¿½8 million had to be borrowed. Beginning on 8 March, 1809 a three-day debate took place on a motion calling for the removal of the Duke of York as Commander-in-Chief. The issue arose from the practice of the Duke's mistress, Mary Clarke, of taking payments for arrangingappointments and promotions. Perceval's three-hour speech responding to the debate was widely acclaimed and a few days later the Duke of York resigned.

In August and September, the illness of the Duke of Portland added to the weakness of his administration, which split into factions. Canning gathered supporters in his bid to take over as Prime Minister, but Perceval was also a serious candidate, and on 4 October 1809 the King decided to appoint Perceval, describing him as 'the most straightforward man I have ever known'. Even so, Perceval had great difficulty in filling posts in his Cabinet, and had to keep the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer himself, being unable to find a replacement. On 23 January 1810, parliament met to debate the Kings' Speech; Perceval made a long speech in which he refuted the Opposition's criticisms of the conduct of the war against France and the disastrous Walcheren expedition. The Opposition was soundly defeated at the vote. However, three days later the Opposition launched another attack on the conduct of the Walcheren expedition, and the government was defeated by 195 votes to 186.

On 28 January the government was defeated in three successive divisions on the composition of the Finance Committee, which was largely made up of friends of Perceval; the ministry's problems continued. On 31 March 1810, the government narrowly survived four divisions following the publication of the findings of the Walcheren enquiry. However, the reputation of the (second) Earl of Chatham, who had ordered the expedition, was damaged, and later he resigned. A furore erupted over the arrest of Sir Francis Burdett in April: he had supported the 'rights of the people and press' to watch and report proceedings in the House of Commons and was sent to the Tower, amid widespread rioting in his support. He was released in June after parliament had gone into recess. In May, Perceval's Budget proposals were accepted, despite his worse fears, although the report of the Bullion Committee criticised the Bank of England and precipitated a financial crisis which lasted for over a year. By 18 October 1810, the king had become deeply distressed by the terminal illness of his favourite daughter, Princess Amelia; the first signs of the return of his insanity were observed.

Consequently, on 19 December, Perceval informed the Prince of Wales that the Cabinet had agreed on the terms of a Regency Bill which included several restrictions on the Regent's powers. Angered, the Prince led the opposition to Perceval's proposals. Even so, the Regency Bill passed on 4 February 1811, a personal triumph for Perceval, although the Prince immediately begins to plan changes in the Cabinet. The King's health gradually began to improve and the Prince decided to confirm Perceval as PM. By July, raging inflation had set in as a consequence of war, but the financial crisis ended when Perceval made bank-notes legal tender. At the same time, the Prince Regent asked for a large grant for the maintenance of the Royal Household and to pay off his phenomenally large debts. The Prince's financial difficulties led to Perceval persuading him to accept a smaller settlement financed from the Civil List, a practise that has continued ever since. From the beginning of 1812, the government suffered the withdrawal of various of its members . On 17 January, Wellesley, who had openly supported the Prince Regent, offered his resignation as Foreign Secretary.

On 31 January Charles Yorke resigned from the Admiralty on the grounds of ill health but in reality had an aversion to serving the Prince Regent. On 7 February Perceval had an audience with the Prince to discuss offering Opposition leaders places in a coalition government. Their acceptance was so unlikely that Perceval was confirmed in office as the best candidate available. Detail of an etching showing the assassination of Spencer Perceval As one result of the activities of Thomas Attwood, a Birmingham banker who had led a campaign against the Orders in Council that had been imposed in 1807, Perceval's government agreed to an enquiry into the legislation; his decision partly was the result of Attwood's activities but also partly because of the adverse effect they were having on Anglo-America relations. These erupted into the War of 1812-14. On 11 May 1812, while on his way to take part in a debate on the Orders in Council passed by Portland's ministry, Perceval was shot in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, who had been trying unsuccessfully to obtain government compensation for debts incurred while he was in Russia.

Bellingham gave himself up immediately, was tried at the Old Bailey, condemned to death on 15 May, and he executed three days later. The inquest into Perceval's death returned a verdict of wilful murder and his body was returned to Downing Street. The following day, parliament voted an annuity to Perceval's wife and children. Perceval was buried in the family vault in St. Luke's, Charlton, on 16 May 1812. In June 1812, a memorial to Perceval was placed in Westminster Abbey. Recommended Reading Gray, D. Spencer Perceval: the Evangelical Prime Minister 1762-1812. Manchester 1963. Williams, CV. The Life and Administration of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval. London, 1812. Assassination of a British Prime Minister - On This Day On This Day Assassination of a British Prime Minister An artist's impression of Spencer Perceval's fatal shooting.

Photograph: Hulton Archive Event Date: May 11 , 1812 Location: London, England, United Kingdom The British don’t go in for political assassinations: it’s just not cricket. So Spencer Perceval holds a unique place in British political history: he is the only Prime Minister ever to have been murdered while in office. It happened when, on this day, he entered the lobby of the House of Commons where his assassin, John Bellingham, had been sitting quietly by a fireplace. As Perceval entered, Bellingham got up, walked towards him, pulled a pistol out of his coat and fired at the Prime Minister, fatally hitting him in the chest. “I am murdered!” Perceval cried out as he slumped to the floor. And he was right. Member of Parliament William Smith – the future grandfather of Florence Nightingale – led a team that rushed to Perceval’s aid, but in vain. He managed only what Smith described as “convulsive sobs” before a doctor confirmed that he was dead. By contrast, Bellingham, who made no attempt to escape, was positively verbose.

“I have been denied the redress of my grievances by government,” he thundered, adding: “I have been ill-treated. They all know who I am and what I am . . . I am a most unfortunate man and feel sufficient justification for what I have done.” A businessman in his forties, in 1804 he was falsely jailed for debt in Russia and could get no help from the British Embassy. He was released after serving five years in prison, then launched a campaign demanding compensation from the British Government. It did him no good and his mounting sense of rage and injustice led him to the point where he decided to kill the Prime Minister. Perceval, a married man with 12 children, was just 49 when he met his untimely and unlikely death. So was Britain robbed of a future great man of state? It seems not. A lawyer by profession, he was seen as a decent and honourable man who had risen in the Tory Party to become Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1807, then Prime Minister in 1809.

But the best a colleague could say of him was: “He is not a ship of the line, but he carries many guns, is tight-built, and is out in all weathers.” When tried at the Old Bailey, Bellingham’s plea of insanity was not accepted. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged. Published: April 25, 2016 The assassination of Spencer Perceval | The National Archives blog Empire Marketing Board 1927-1933 poster, A Blast Furnace CO 956/260 The assassination of Spencer Perceval TS 11/224 TS 11/224 (Former Ref: 947 Part 2) Among the papers of the Treasury Solicitor is a fascinating plan showing the House of Commons lobby which is where the assassination occurred.

It shows all the ‘key players’ at 17:15 on 11 May 1812 by means of a coded system – circle no 1 is Spencer Perceval, having just entered the lobby, and circle No 2 is the assassin, John Bellingham, a merchant from Liverpool with an obsessive grievance against the government. This plan, which is part of the trial papers for John Bellingham, looks strangely ‘modern’ in a sense. Dotted lines show the routes that the assassin took immediately after shooting Perceval at point-blank range: Bellingham returned to the bench where he had been lying in wait earlier, making no attempt to escape. The dotted line for Perceval purports to show his movements on being shot, vividly described in the account which is given below the plan: ‘Mr Perceval on being shot staggered backward in the direction of the dotted line for a moment and said “Oh! Murder!

Murder!” And then advancing in agony attempted to get in the House, but fell at the mark + from whence he was he was carried a corpse into the Secretary’s Room.’ When I saw this document the thought occurred to me that I was looking at a 19th century British equivalent of the familiar plans of Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas (the site of J F Kennedy’s assassination on 22 November 1963) showing all the key landmarks such as the Texas School Book Depository and the ‘Grassy Knoll’ and all the angles with regard to the origins of gunshots. Only, in this case, there was never any controversy or dispute about the fact that there was a sole gunman – there were several witnesses to the event (some 25-30 persons were in the lobby at the time). However, historical documents demonstrate that conspiracy theories are nothing new. ‘Compensation for his misfortunes’ Bellingham, a merchant trader, had visited Russia in 1804 on a business trip, but ended up being imprisoned for five years for an alleged debt. He protested his innocence and made several appeals for assistance to Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, the British Ambassador in St Petersburg.

But Leveson-Gower’s response, essentially, was that he was unable to interfere in the matter. By the time Bellingham was released in 1809, he had become consumed with the cause of righting the injustices he had suffered. He returned to England and bombarded Whitehall with petitions, seeking compensation for his misfortunes, but received the ‘brush-off’. His frustration and sense of grievance reached a point when he could only see one solution – he decided to kill the Prime Minister. The National Archives holds the papers of Lord Granville Leveson-Gower (who later received the title Earl Granville) in the series PRO 30/29 . One of the documents we have digitised, PRO 30/29/6/11 , contains a letter addressed to Leveson-Gower, dated 24 May 1812 which begins: ‘My Lord…dreadfully are you deceiv’d in thinking Bellingham had no accomplice’. The writer clearly wants to get a conspiracy theory ‘bandwagon’ underway.

The letter concludes with this chilling threat: ‘Beware the fate which waited Caesar on the ides of March your fate is decreed therefore prepare for death’. It is signed ‘One of the fifty…Brutus’. One can only imagine the effect of such a powerful letter on Lord Granville and the authorities in general. It is all the more sinister for being written in a learned hand. There are at least two other letters within the file attacking Lord Granville, one from ‘a sincere Espouser of the cause of Bellingham…Globe Tavern, May 25 ‘12’ and another dated 25 July in which the writer challenges Lord Granville to a duel on Primrose Hill. Signal for the English Revolution? This was a febrile time in British history. As Denis Gray has written in his Biography of Spencer Perceval, ‘there were many on that night of 11 May who thought that Perceval’s assassination was the signal for the English Revolution’. Britain was engaged in war with France and this was placing a heavy burden on the people – wheat prices soared in 1812 due to the disruption to trade caused by the war.

There were allegations of corruption in high places and a growing clamour for parliamentary reform. The Luddites were wrecking the new mechanised looms which were being introduced in the wool and cotton industries. This movement had begun in Nottinghamshire in 1811 and quickly spread throughout the country. There was a real fear, in fashionable society, that mob rule could break out at any moment. A sympathetic writer to Lord Granville on 13 May was appalled by the fact that some of the populace had been nosily rejoicing at the news of the assassination. Troops had to be called out to enable Bellingham to be transported from Westminster to Newgate Prison (it was feared that a mob was trying to help him escape). Given all these factors, one can see why many in ‘high society’ held suspicions for a time that Perceval’s murder was part of a conspiracy which could lead to revolution. However, Bellingham was tried, found guilty and executed within a week of the murder, and the manic atmosphere surrounding the case abated. Over time, the name John Bellingham (and indeed, that of Spencer Perceval) largely disappeared from public consciousness.

The documents we have digitised bring this highly dramatic episode of British history back to life. They also show how archives can enable us to reflect differently on phenomena which we might be tempted to think of as ‘modern’ – such as the lone gunman who assassinates the leader of a country. The plan of the lobby showing events at 17:15 on 11 May 1812 prompts us to think about wider historical perspectives. Has a British Prime Minister ever been assassinated? Has a British Prime Minister ever been assassinated? Sponsored by Point blank: John Bellingham shot Spencer Perceval in the heart Credit: Hulton Archive 11 May 2016 • 12:00am 11 May 1812 Spencer Perceval became Britain's only Prime Minister to be assassinated Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons in London – the only assassination of a British Prime Minister. Bellingham was furious at the Government’s refusal to offer compensation after he served a lengthy prison term in Russia over a disputed debt incurred on a trading mission.

On 11 May, he waited in the lobby at Westminster, and when Perceval appeared, shot him in the heart. He then calmly sat on a bench waiting for arrest. Tried on 15 May, he was publicly hanged three days later. “I trust that this serious lesson will operate as a warning to all future ministers” John Bellingham At Bellingham's Old Bailey trial, his lawyer tried to plead insanity for his client. But Bellingham was having none of it. During a passionate defence, Bellingham said: “I trust that this serious lesson will operate as a warning to all future ministers, and that they will henceforth do the thing that is right, for if the upper ranks of society are permitted to act wrong with impunity, the inferior ramifications will soon become wholly corrupted.” At the execution, many onlookers agreed. “You have rendered an important service to your country, you have taught ministers that they should do justice,” wrote one. Bellingham's skull is preserved at Barts Pathology Museum. Visit Only in Britain for more fascinating facts about Britain's past Royal London has its roots in the community.

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Question: Which is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated?
Answer: Spencer Perceval