Everything about Spencer Perceval totally explained
Spencer Perceval,
KC (
1 November 1762 –
11 May 1812) was a
British statesman and
Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been
assassinated.
Biography
Perceval was the seventh son of
John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont by his second wife,
Catherine. His father, a close advisor of
Frederick, Prince of Wales and
King George III, had served briefly in the
Cabinet as
First Lord of the Admiralty, but died when Perceval was ten.
He attended
Harrow and
Trinity College,
Cambridge, where he was impressed by the evangelical Anglican movement. In later life Perceval became an expert on Biblical
prophecy and wrote pamphlets relating prophecies which he'd discovered. Perceval became a
barrister on the Midland circuit, where he found it difficult to obtain sufficient work until aided by family connections. Through his mother's family he was appointed as a Deputy Recorder of
Northampton, and he was later made a Commissioner of
Bankrupts and given a legal
sinecure worth £119 annually. Perceval acted for the Crown in the prosecutions of
Thomas Paine (1792) and
John Horne Tooke (1794), and wrote pamphlets supporting the impeachment of
Warren Hastings.
Perceval's brother Lord Arden served in
William Pitt the Younger's government, which led to his being noticed. He was considered in 1795 as a possible Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant for
Ireland but rejected the idea of a political career. However he accepted nomination as MP for
Northampton in 1796, when the proprietor's heir was ineligible, as a family trust. He made several speeches fiercely attacking
Charles James Fox and revolutionary politics, which impressed Pitt, who apparently considered him as a possible successor. He was appointed Solicitor of the Ordnance in 1798.
Perceval had no sympathy for Pitt's resignation over
Catholic relief after the Act of Union with Ireland. He was therefore promoted in
Addington's government to be
Solicitor General from 1801, and then to
Attorney General from 1802. However, Perceval didn't agree with Addington's general policies (especially on foreign policy), and confined himself to speeches on legal issues. When he did defend the government, he was vituperative. He retained office when Pitt returned in 1804. While Perceval instigated prosecutions of radicals, he also reformed the laws on
transportation to
Australia.
At Pitt's funeral in January 1806, Perceval was one of the emblem bearers. He went into opposition when the new government included Fox, and made many effective speeches against the '
Ministry of All the Talents'. He was especially vehement in his opposition to Catholic emancipation. When the Ministry fell, the
Duke of Portland put together a shaky coalition of senior
Tories with Perceval as
Chancellor of the Exchequer and
Leader of the House of Commons. With Portland aged, unwell and a figurehead, Perceval was effectively Prime Minister. He even lived at
10 Downing Street for most of the time, despite buying Elm Grove -- a large comfortable house in
Ealing to the west of London, and former home of the Bishop of Durham -- in 1808 .
It was under Perceval that
William Wilberforce passed his Bill abolishing the
slave trade. When
Napoleon Bonaparte embargoed British trade under the
Continental System, Perceval drafted
Orders in Council to retaliate against foreign trade. He opposed the government grant to
Maynooth College. The government was continuously riven with splits and when the Duke of Portland suffered a stroke in August 1809 there was intense manoeuvring between Perceval and
George Canning over who should take over. Perceval won out with the support of
Viscount Castlereagh.
Unable to include Canning and his allies, Perceval's administration was notable mostly for its lack of most of the more important statesmen of the period. He had to serve as his own Chancellor after obtaining six refusals of office. The government sometimes struggled in the
House of Commons, being defeated in motions critical of both foreign and economic policy. He remained adamantly opposed to reform of the electoral system.
Perceval found himself having to cope with the final descent of
King George III into madness. Though Perceval feared that the
Prince Regent would dismiss his government, the Prince abandoned the
Whigs and confirmed Perceval in office. Later attempts by the Prince to entice others to join the Ministry were unsuccessful. Perceval pursued the
Peninsular War doggedly and always defended it against those who prophesied defeat.
Final years and assassination
The Orders in Council against trade which Perceval had instituted in 1807 became unpopular in the winter of 1811 with
Luddite riots breaking out. Perceval was forced to concede an inquiry by the House of Commons.
On
May 11 1812, Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry when he was shot through the heart in the lobby of the House of Commons by a mentally unsound man named
John Bellingham, who blamed his financial instability on a casual suggestion of Perceval. He died almost instantly, uttering the words "I am murdered," and Bellingham gave himself up to officers. He was found guilty and hanged a week later.. It is often thought to be
illegal to die in the Palace of Westminster, but is in fact only illegal to die in the House of Lords, as was established in this case.
Perceval's body lay in
10 Downing Street for five days before burial. He is buried at St Luke's Church in
Charlton, south-east
London.
The fifth of Perceval's eleven children,
John Thomas Perceval, was a pioneer whose work for the mental health advocacy movement led to lasting improvements in mental health care.
Spencer Perceval's administration, October 1809 - May 1812
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