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Portrait of John Bellingham.

John Bellingham (c. 1769 – 18 May 1812) was the assassin of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. This murder was the only successful attempt on the life of a British Prime Minister.^[1] It is believed after this the family changed its name to Bellingall as he brought shame to the family.

Early life

The details of Bellingham's early life are 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 born in St Neots, Huntingdonshire,^[1] and later brought up in London, where he was apprenticed to a jeweller, James Love, at the age of fourteen. Two years later, he 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, which led to the ship running aground and sinking.

In 1794, a John Bellingham opened a tin factory on London's 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 around 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 the summer of 1804, Bellingham again went to Archangel to work for a short time as an export representative.

Russian imprisonment

In autumn 1803, a Russian ship Soleure^[2] 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 Bellingham, on the verge of leaving for Britain on November 16, 1804, had his travelling pass withdrawn because of the debt.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. A year later Bellingham secured his release 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.

Assassination of the Prime Minister

19th century illustration of assassination of Spencer Perceval by John Bellingham.

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.

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 (12.7 mm) pistols from W. Beckwith, gunsmith of 58 Skinner Street. He also arranged with a tailor to have a secret inside pocket put on his coat. Around this time, he was often seen in the lobby of the House of Commons.

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 the 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.

Bellingham was tried on Wednesday May 13 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 gave a formal statement to the court, saying:^[3]

"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; sheltering himself behind the imagined security of his station, and trampling upon law and right in the belief that no retribution could reach him. I demand only my right, and not a favour; I demand what is the birthright and privilege of every Englishman. Gentlemen, when a minister sets himself above the laws, as Mr Perceval did, he does it as his own personal risk. If this were not so, the mere will of the minister would become the law, and what would then become of your liberties? 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. Gentlemen, my life is in your hands, I rely confidently in your justice."

Evidence that Bellingham was insane was put forward by witnesses, but not by Bellingham himself, and was discounted by the trial judge, Sir James Mansfield. Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by Hanging. This was carried out in public on Monday May 18.

According to René Martin Pillet, a Frenchman who wrote an account of his ten years in England, the sentiment of the very large crowd that gathered at Bellingham's execution was:^[4]

"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."

A subscription was raised for the widow and children of Bellingham, and "their fortune was ten times greater than they could ever have expected in any other circumstances".^[4]

Notes

^  In 1984, Patrick Magee made a serious attempt on the life of Margaret Thatcher in the Brighton Bombing. There were also serious attempts on the lives of King George III and Queen Victoria, and the Gunpowder Plot to bomb the Palace of Westminster.

References

External links

• Proceedings of the case from Old Bailey online

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