John Bellingham
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John Bellingham (1771 - May 18, 1812) was the only man to assassinate a British Prime Minister.
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Early life
Bellingham's early life is unclear as few sources survive and most post-assassination biographies of him included speculation as fact. Recollections of family and friends allow some details to be stated with confidence. Bellingham was certainly brought up in London and apprenticed to a jeweller, James Love, at the age of fourteen, but two years later was sent as a midshipman on the maiden voyage of the Hartwell from Gravesend to China. There was a mutiny on board on May 22, 1787 in which the ship ran aground and sank.
In 1794 a John Bellingham opened a tin factory on Oxford Street, but the business failed and he was declared bankrupt that March. It has not been definitely established that this is the same person. Bellingham certainly worked as a clerk in a counting-house in the late 1790s, and in about 1800 he went to Archangel in Russia as an agent for importers and exporters. He returned to England in 1802 and worked in Liverpool as a merchant broker. He married Mary Neville in 1803. In summer 1804 Bellingham again went to Archangel to work for a short time as an export representative.
Russia
In autumn 1803, a Russian ship Soyuz insured at Lloyd's of London was lost in the White Sea. The owners (the house of R. Van Brienen) attempted to claim on their insurance but an anonymous letter informed Lloyd's that the ship had been sabotaged. Soloman Van Brienen suspected Bellingham was the author, and decided to retaliate by accusing him of a debt of 4,890 roubles to a bankrupt for which he was an assignee. Bellingham, on the verge of leaving for Britain on November 16, 1804, had his travelling pass withdrawn because of the debt.
Van Brienen also persuaded the Governor-General of the area to imprison Bellingham. He secured his release a year later and managed to get to St. Petersburg, where he attempted to impeach the Governor-General. This provoked the Russian authorities and he was charged with leaving Archangel in a clandestine manner, and again imprisoned. He was in prison until October 1808 when he was put out onto the streets, but without permission to leave. In his desperation he personally petitioned the Tsar. He was permitted to leave in 1809 and arrived back in England in December.
Return to England
Back in England Bellingham began to petition the United Kingdom Government for compensation for his imprisonment, but was refused (the United Kingdom had broken off diplomatic relations with Russia in November 1808). His wife tried to persuade him to drop the issue and Bellingham went back into work.
Attempts to seek reparation
In 1812 Bellingham again went to work in London, where he renewed his attempts to win compensation. On April 18 he went in person to the offices of the Foreign Office where a civil servant called Hill told him he was at liberty to take whatever measures he thought proper. Bellingham had already started preparations for resolving the matter in another way, and on April 20 he bought two half-inch calibre pistols from W. Beckwith, gunsmith of 58 Skinner Street. He also arranged with a tailor called (appropriately) James Taylor to have a secret inside pocket put on his coat. He was also often seen in the Lobby of the House of Commons.
Assassination
After taking the family of a friend to see a water-colour painting exhibition on May 11, 1812 Bellingham casually remarked that he had some business to attend to, and made his way to Parliament. He waited in the Lobby until Prime Minister Spencer Perceval appeared, then stepped forward and shot him through the heart. Bellingham then calmly sat on a bench. He was immediately detained by those present and identified by Isaac Gascoyne, MP for Liverpool.
Trial
Bellingham was tried on Friday May 15 at the Old Bailey where he argued that he would have preferred to kill the British Ambassador to Russia, but that he was entitled as a wronged man to kill the representative of those he saw as his oppressors. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, and hanged in public on Monday May 18. Bellingham's sanity was not questioned by the court.
In the 1983 general election, his descendant Henry Bellingham was elected to Parliament for North West Norfolk. In 1997 one of his opponents was Roger Percival, a descendant of Spencer Perceval.
Reference
- 'Assassination of the Prime Minister: The shocking death of Spencer Perceval' by Molly Gillen (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1972)
External links
- Proceedings of the case from Old Bailey online (http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/html_units/1810s/t18120513-5.html)