British Tory Prime Minister Spencer Perceval
(pictured),
the son of John
Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont (1711-1770), became the only British leader to be
assassinated when he was shot dead in the House of Commons
by a deranged bankrupt Liverpudlian businessman, John
Bellingham. (When the news reached Nottingham the following day, Perceval's death was
celebrated with a great parading of flags and drums through the town. In many
places in Britain, such carnivals were held.)
Perceval was just
entering the foyer of the House when he was shot by John Bellingham, who
was hiding behind a door. The PM staggered forward, grasped his chest and called out, "I am
murdered! I am murdered!", falling to the Commons floor.
A stunned silence ensued,
as MPs looked in disbelief at the mortally wounded Prime Minister, and
John Bellingham calmly walked back to his seat where he resumed his
place.
On the day of the
inquest into the death of Spencer Perceval, Bellingham sent the
following letter to his landlady:
Dear Madam :
Yesterday midnight I was escorted to this neighbourhood by a noble troop
of Light Horse, and delivered into the care of Mr. Newman (by Mr. Taylor
the Magistrate and MP) as a state prisoner of the first class. For eight
years I have never found my mind so tranquil as since this melancholy
but necessary catastrophe, as the merits or demerits of my peculiar case
must be regularly unfolded in a criminal court of justice, to ascertain
the guilty party, by a jury of my country.
I have to request
the favour of you to send me three or four shirts, some cravats,
handkerchiefs, night-caps, stockings, etc, out of my drawers, together
with comb, soap, toothbrush, with any other trifle which presents itself
which you may think I may have occasion for, and enclose them in my
leather trunk, and the key, please to send sealed per bearer; also my
great-coat, flannel gown, and black waistcoat, which will much oblige.
Dear madam, your obedient servant, John Bellingham. To the above please
to add the Prayer Book.
At the trial it was clear to all that the assassin was
mad, but despite that fact, Bellingham was executed within the week.
A prophetic dream
The night following the assassination, before news of the
event could have reached him, the wealthy mining engineer John Williams of Scorrier House, near Redruth, in Cornwall, dreamed
three times of the exact circumstances of the assassination, even down
to the dress of both protagonists. He told his wife, and the next day
told several friends, who all verified the fact later. About six weeks
later, Williams went to London and visited the House of Commons with a
friend, where he was able to point out the exact positions of the prime
minister and his assassin. When Williams died, in April 1841, the Gentleman's Magazine's obituary
said "His integrity was proof against all temptation and above all
reproach".
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