John Bellingham was a rather
unremarkable and unassuming fellow whom history would doubtless have forgotten
him had he not met Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in 1812.
One associate who knew him back
in 1812 describes him as ‘a tall, large-boned man, about forty years of age,
with a long thin visage and aquiline nose’ who acquired many grudges against
others due to a series of business failures that John Bellingham has. To add to
his own sense of woes he suffers the misfortune of being confined within an
inhospitable Russian prison for a few years. When he leaves Russia he feels
mightily aggrieved and bears a massive grudge against all who he feel have made
him suffer so he returns to London and seeks compensation. He even goes so far
as to walk up to 10 Downing Street on 22nd of May 1810 to petition
Perceval’s secretary for compensation. He is promptly refused and these events
only serve to leave him with an even greater sense of injustice.
We can get a clear sense of his
outrage and burning sense of resentment in the following letter that he writes
to the Metropolitan Police in March 1812.
‘…The purport of the present is,
therefore, once more to solicit his Majesty's Ministers, through your medium,
to let what is right and proper be done in my instance, which is all I require.
Should this reasonable request be finally denied, I shall then feel justified
in executing justice myself - in which case I shall be ready to argue the
merits of so reluctant a measure with his Majesty's Attorney-General, wherever
and whenever I may be called upon so to do. In the hopes of averting so
abhorrent but compulsive an alternative I have the honour to be, sirs, your
very humble and obedient servant,
JOHN BELLINGHAM’
Seeing this letter as just
another comment from a passive disgruntled person the Police and recipient MPs
choose to ignore the letter. This is an unfortunate mistake with hindsight as
Bellingham decides that radical action is a necessity to get the compensation
he feels he deserves.
On 11th May 1812,
after taking the family of a friend to see a water-colour painting exhibition
at the European Museum he makes his way to Parliament intent on radical action.
Once there he waits in the lobby behind the folding doors leading into the body
of the House until the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval appears. The Prime
Minister has no idea what is about to happen.
What the Prime Minister does not
appreciate is how much of a figure of hate he is for this deranged man and for
the public at large. For many he inspires a great deal of antipathy. For
example when he becomes Prime Minister he is in a position to bestow the second
most prestigious title of Chancellor of the Exchequer on anyone. You would
think many politicians would clamour, beg and plead for this and yet six people
still reject the opportunity to take this office. Eventually Perceval runs out
of options so he has to take the position himself.
This helps explain why the Prime
Minister has so little security when at five o'clock in the afternoon he walks
along the Parliament lobby and is sprung upon by John Bellingham who has been
standing behind the folding doors that lead into the House. Immediately
Bellingham takes his chance to exact revenge. He takes aim with one of the
pistols that he has concealed on him and fires. His aim is accurate and the
ball enters the left breast of Spencer-Perceval and passes through his heart.
The Prime Minster falls back a short distance but not before he uses up his
flagging energy to gasp out "Murder!" in a low tone of voice.
He is instantly picked up by Mr
Smith, MP for Norwich and carried into the office of the Speaker's secretary,
where he passes away almost immediately and is declared dead. In the meantime
pandemonium breaks out amongst those left in the lobby. Loud cries of
"Shut the door; let no one out!" are heard immediately after the shot
is fired and several people frantically look around to find the murderer.
Several times shouts go out crying "where's the murderer?".
There is actually no need for
this as Bellingham answers, "I am the unfortunate man," and is
immediately seized and searched by a Mr Dowling. He looks for the pistol and
soon finds it in his left-hand trouser pocket. Upon further search he retrieves
some papers and an opera-glass that he has used to examine who the MPs are in
the House while sitting in the gallery. All are curious to know why he attacked
Spencer-Perceval. They are met with the cold reply ‘want of redress, and denial
of justice.’
Later that night on 12th
May at one o’clock in the morning, Perceval’s body is brought back to 10
Downing Street where it is looked after by two of the household servants. His
wife, Jane prays for her husband and for God’s mercy upon the soul of his
assassin. ‘I have seen our poor brother’ writes Lady Redesdale to Margaret
Walpole ‘and nothing could be more calm and undisturbed than his countenance
is’.
The government is deeply troubled
by this event as they see it as a sign revolutionary fever is spreading from
Europe. They are acutely aware public feeling against the government of the day
is running high due to high food prices, the Napoleonic wars going badly and
high rates of taxation. As a result the first thought of the authorities is
that this murder might precipitate a popular rising like the French and
American Revolution. With this in mind they seek swift justice.
The mob that arrives on the night
of May 11th in Parliament Square has other ideas. Just before eight
p.m. a heavily guarded coach arrives to take Bellingham to Newgate jail but as
soon as the prisoner and his escort appear outside, part of the crowd surges
forward and succeeds in pulling open one of the coach doors before the escort
regains control. Their aim rather surprisingly is not to hurt Bellingham but to
help him. It is a view encapsulated on nearby walls that are graffitied with
‘Rescue Bellingham or die’. This is a view shared in a nearby London tavern
where working class people are overheard arguing ‘more of these damned
scoundrels must go the same way, and then poor people may live’.
The mob fail to rescue Bellingham
and he is tried on Friday, May 15 at the Old Bailey where he argues that he
would have preferred to kill the British Ambassador to Russia, but that he is
entitled as a wronged man to kill the representative of those he sees as his
oppressors. He then gives a formal statement to the court in defence stating
"Recollect, Gentlemen, what was my situation. Recollect that my family was
ruined and myself destroyed, merely because it was Mr Perceval's pleasure that
justice should not be granted”.
As the trial gets under way it
becomes apparent to all that John Bellingham is clearly insane. It is noted his
father died from insanity when he was just a child and that he has become
obsessed with the ‘mistreatment’ he feels he has suffered in Russia. A sign he
is not grasping the weakness of his position can be seen from a letter he
writes on May 17th.
'I lost my suit solely through
the improper conduct of my attorney and counsel, Mr Alley, in not bringing my
witnesses forward (of whom there were more than twenty): in consequence, the
judge took advantage of the circumstance, and I went on the defence without
having brought forward a single friend -- otherwise I must inevitably have been
acquitted.'
Such bizarre antics cut no ice
with the court and he is quickly sentenced to death. On the Monday morning May
18th at about six o'clock, he gets up, dresses himself and reads the Prayer
Book for half an hour. Dr Ford meets him, they shake hands and the prisoner
leaves his cell for the room allotted for the condemned criminals. Once again
Bellingham shows his bellicosity by stating he is prepared to meet his maker.
His irons are taken off and he is escorted out of the room. However just before
he leaves the room to proceed to the place of execution he lowers his head and
appears to wipe away a tear showing that perhaps he can not contain all the
emotions bubbling underneath him after all. As he leaves he is then taken by
the Lord Mayor, sheriffs, under-sheriffs, officers and Dr Ford through the
press-yard and the prison to his final spot before the debtors' door at Newgate
jail.
Bellingham seems to maintain a
surprising air of calm in the face of his horrendous fate and manages to walk
up the scaffold with ease. A cap is fastened over his head, the executioner
steps back and a score of people are heard to cry ‘God bless you, God save
you!’. Dr Ford continues praying for about a minute, while the executioner goes
below the scaffold, and preparations are made to strike away its supports. With
each strike of a clock, Dr Ford and Bellingham continue to pray fervently. When
it hits the seventh strike the supports of the internal part of the scaffold
are struck away. Bellingham drops out of sight down as far as the knees whilst
his body remains in full view and the clergyman is left standing on the outer
frame of the scaffold. A perfect silence is heard with none of the customary
cries and curses thrown at the executed.
According to René Martin Pillet,
a Frenchman who writes an account of his ten years in England, the large crowd
that gather at Bellingham's execution are largely sympathetic toward him. He
grieves for him saying "farewell poor man, you owe satisfaction to the
offended laws of your country, but God bless you! You have rendered an
important service to your country, you have taught ministers that they should
do justice, and grant audience when it is asked of them."
He dies soon after and his body
is taken in a cart to St Bartholomew's Hospital. A measure of the sympathy many
of the large working class crowd hold for him is shown by them following his
last journey before he is privately dissected.
The fate of the Prime Minister’s
wife, Jane is much more comfortable. She is granted £50,000 by Parliament and
£2,000 per year to live on as unlike other Prime Ministers of the time he has
not used his office for his own financial gain. As George Jackson puts it ‘Poor
Perceval!, poor in every sense I believe; for he was too honest to enrich
himself, however he may have helped to enrich others’. Perceval is certainly
noble but quite whether his wife deserves so much at a time of great financial
distress and high taxes for the populace is another question.
Certainly George Jackson’s views
are not shared by many in the working class. When news of the assassination
reaches Nottingham a crowd gathers and parades the town with drums beating and
flags waving. In one of the ironies of history this is how a murderer comes to
be seen as a hero and the victim as an incompetent man.
For many more stories just like this come and read 'Secret English History' - and learn about the greatest English history stories you have never heard of.
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