Assassination of Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval was prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1809 to 1812. He is best known for his opposition to the Catholic Church and to the abolition of the slave trade. He was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons on 11 May 1812 by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained and, four days after the murder, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. On 18 May, one week after the assassination, he was hanged at Newgate Prison.
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Spencer Perceval was prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1809 to 1812. He was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons on 11 May 1812 by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained and, four days after the murder, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. On 18 May, one week after the assassination, he was hanged at Newgate Prison. He remains the only British Prime Minister to date to have been assassinated. After his death, Parliament made generous provision to his widow and children, and approved the erection of monuments. Thereafter his ministry was soon forgotten, his policies reversed, and he is generally better known for the manner of his death than for any of his achievements. He is best known for his opposition to the Catholic Church and to the abolition of the slave trade. His short stature and slight build earned him the nickname \”Little P\”. He was the second son from the second marriage of John perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont. He attended Harrow School and, in 1780, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a noted scholar and prizewinner. In 1790, he married Jane Wilson, the couple having eloped on her 21st birthday. The marriage proved happy and prolific; twelve children were born over the following 14 years. He had no realistic prospect of a family inheritance, and needed to earn his living; on leaving Cambridge in 1783, he entered Lincoln’s Inn to train as a lawyer.
After being called to the bar in 1786, he joined the Midland Circuit, where his family connections helped him to acquire a lucrative practice. He later served as Solicitor General, and then as Attorney General, in the Addington ministry of 1801–04, continuing in the latter office through the Pitt ministry of1804–06. In March 1807, he took office as Chancellor of the Exchequer. In October 1809, he succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury. He remained in opposition during this short-lived ministry, but when the Duke of Portland formed a new Tory administration in March 1806, he retained the head of government. In addition to his duties as head of the government, he also retained the formal title of prime minister. He could find no appropriate successor who would find appropriate stature. He died in 1812, a month before the start of the War of 1812 and ailing on his resignation as First Minister. His death was a cause of rejoicing in the worst affected parts of the country. His determination to prosecute the war using the harshest of measures caused widespread poverty and unrest on the home front. He acquired a reputation for his attacks on radicalism. He worked with fellow evangelicals such as William Wilberforce to secure the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807. His deep evangelical convictions led him to his unwavering opposition to Catholic emancipation, and his equally fervent support for the abolition.
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