John Bellingham
John Bellingham was born in 1776 in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire, England, to a family that faced early challenges, including the mental decline of his father. After a series of unsuccessful ventures and occupations, he found some stability through his wife, Mary Neville, an Irish milliner. Bellingham's life took a dramatic turn when his financial troubles led to his imprisonment in Russia, where he developed a fixation on seeking compensation from the British government for his treatment. This obsession culminated in a violent act on May 11, 1812, when he assassinated Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister of England, in the House of Commons. Bellingham was quickly tried and executed, with his case drawing attention to the political tensions of the time. His actions were emblematic of the unrest experienced by various groups in England, including opposition to Perceval’s policies. Despite the turmoil surrounding his crime, Bellingham's execution did not significantly alter the political landscape, as the Tory government that followed managed to maintain stability amidst significant challenges, including wars and domestic strife.
Subject Terms
John Bellingham
British businessman and murderer
- Born: 1776
- Birthplace: St. Neots, Huntingdonshire, England
- Died: May 18, 1812
- Place of death: London, England
Major offense: Murder of British prime minister Spencer Perceval
Active: May 11, 1812
Locale: London, England
Sentence: Death by hanging
Early Life
John Bellingham (BEHL-ihng-ham) was born in 1776 at St. Neots, Huntingdonshire, England, the son of a land surveyor who died insane. Apprenticed to a jeweler at sixteen, Bellingham soon quit. A business attempt ended in bankruptcy. After drifting from one job to another, he found employment with a Liverpool shipping firm. He married Mary Neville, an Irish milliner; the couple had two children. Fortunately, her shop provided a steady income, for John’s career consisted of an unbroken string of failures. However, with the exception of a single notorious murder, he committed no known crimes.
Criminal Career
The chain of events culminating in the murder of Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of England, began in Russia in 1804, when Bellingham was arrested there for incurring large debts and attempting to leave the country without paying. A mediation board ruled in favor of the creditor. Over the next three years, the British ambassador, Granville Leveson-Gower, received numerous petitions from Bellingham, but he could do little because the imprisonment was consistent with Anglo-Russian commercial treaties. When Britain and Russia severed diplomatic relations in 1807, Leveson-Gower returned to England while Bellingham remained in St. Petersburg. He was released in 1809.
Bellingham then deluged the government with claims for compensation for his imprisonment and the embassy’s alleged mishandling of the affair. Denying these increasingly paranoid petitions fell to the Foreign Office and the prime minister. Perceval’s shaky ministry governed a country that was at war with France and convulsed by urban unrest and industrial sabotage. Its lack of sympathy for a bankrupt businessman’s dubious claims was understandable.
On May 5, Bellingham presented a last petition to the London police office at Bow Street, reiterating his story and concluding: “Should this reasonable request be denied . . . I shall then feel justified in executing justice myself.” He purchased two small pistols and began haunting the visitor’s gallery of the House of Commons. On the evening of May 11, 1812, as Perceval entered the lobby of the House of Commons, Bellingham shot him through the heart at point-blank range. He made no effort to escape, allowing himself to be disarmed by spectators. A disorganized attempt by the London mob to rescue him as he was being transferred to Newgate Gaol, and the cries of “Long live Bellingham” at his execution, were almost certainly expressions of hostility to Perceval’s policies rather than sympathy for his murderer.
Legal Action and Outcome
Bellingham’s trial took place at Old Bailey on Friday, May 15; he was hanged the following Monday. This rapid sequence of events was standard at the time for a murder with multiple witnesses, when the accused did not request additional time. Insanity was the only possible defense. The court refused to allow time to call witnesses from Liverpool. Bellingham’s deliberate planning and his articulate stance while defending himself made a verdict of insanity very unlikely in 1812.
While awaiting execution, Bellingham told his jailers that he looked forward to being “freed.” His calm demeanor on the scaffold also suggests that he wanted to be executed and that this may have been a motive for his crime.
Impact
Spencer Perceval was not an unlikely target for John Bellingham: The prime minister had many enemies. His assassination left a vacuum that took nearly two months to fill; during that time, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia and the United States declared war. Irish Catholics hated Perceval for his adamant opposition to Catholic emancipation, and the Luddites blamed him for the hardships of the working class. Perceval’s death thus had the potential to benefit both foreign powers and domestic opponents, including the Whigs and Radicals in Parliament. That it did not is one of the ironies of history. The Tory ministry that succeeded Perceval’s defeated Napoleon, rode out a wave of domestic unrest that would probably have toppled a weaker government, and remained in power for a tempestuous fifteen years.
Bibliography
Goddard, Kathleen S. “A Case of Injustice? The Trial of John Bellingham.” American Journal of Legal History 46, no. 1 (2004): 1-25. Examines the question of Bellingham’s insanity.
Gray, Denis. Spencer Perceval: The Evangelical Prime Minister, 1762-1812. Manchester, England.: Manchester University Press, 1963. The last two chapters describe the political situation in 1812, the assassination, and the trial of Bellingham.
Mathew, H. C. G., and Brian Harrison, eds. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, from the Earliest Times to the Year 2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Good entries on Bellingham, Perceval, and Leveson-Gower.