Spencer Perceval: Ealing’s Prime Minister—His Life, Legacy, and Assassination

Brought to you by:

Sam Habeeb

"Shadow MP Campaigner of Ealing North"

Spencer Perceval: Ealing’s Prime Minister – His Life, Legacy, and Assassination
Credit: The History Press

Spencer Perceval was born on 1 November 1762 and died on 11 May 1812. He was a British statesman and barrister who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been assassinated and the only solicitor-general or attorney-general to have become prime minister

Childhood and Education

He was born at Audley Square, Mayfair, London, the seventh son of the 2nd Earl of Egmont, the second son of the Earl’s second marriage. His mother was Catherine Compton, Baroness Arden, a grandchild of the 4th Earl of Northampton. Spencer was a Compton family name; Catherine Compton’s great-uncle Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, had been prime minister.

His father was a political adviser to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and King George III, having served briefly in the cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty—early childhood at Charlton House, which his father had taken to be near Woolwich Dockyard.

Egmont, Perceval’s father, died when he was eight. Perceval attended Harrow School, which he found demanding, and he worked hard. At Harrow, he became interested in evangelical Anglicanism and developed a lifelong friendship with Dudley Ryder. He stayed for five years at Harrow and then joined his older brother Charles at Trinity College, Cambridge. There he gained the declamation prize in English and graduated in 1782.

Legal Career and Marriage

As a younger son of a younger marriage, Perceval had only £200 a year; without inheritance, he had to look to his resources for an income. Perceval read for the law at Lincoln’s Inn and entered the bar in 1786. In the same year that Perceval’s mother died in 1783, he and his brother Charles, who had been promoted to the dignity of Lord Arden, let a house at Charlton, and there fell in love with two sisters who had been living in the Percevals’ childhood home.

The sisters’ father, Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, approved of the match between his eldest daughter, Margaretta, and the wealthy Lord Arden, a member of Parliament and a lord of the Admiralty. Perceval, who at that time was an impecunious barrister on the Midland Circuit, was told to wait until three years had passed and the younger daughter, Jane, came of age. 

In 1790, at the age of 21, Jane was in no better circumstances than when they first met: Perceval’s career had not yet started to prosper, and Sir Thomas continued to oppose the marriage. They eloped, marrying by special license in East Grinstead, and set up home together in lodgings over a carpet shop in Bedford Row, later in Lindsey House, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Who was the British Prime Minister in 1809-1812?

Three of its members would go on to become prime ministers: Perceval, Lord Hawkesbury, and George Canning. Another two of the great statesmen of the 19th century sat with Portland: Lord Eldon and Lord Castlereagh. But Portland was an ineffectual leader, and health was failing. Summer in 1809 cut the country to its political knees as Canning conspired against Castlereagh, and the Duke of Portland resigned after a stroke.

The negotiations to have a new prime minister began; Canning wanted either the prime ministership or nothing, while Perceval was willing to work under someone else, not Canning. The remnants of the cabinet resolved to request that Lord Grey and Lord Grenville come forward to “an extended and combined administration” in which Perceval would like to work as the home secretary. However, Grenville and Grey declined to accede to discuss anything with them, and the King accepted the Cabinet’s suggestion of Perceval as his new prime minister.

He kissed the King’s hands on 4 October and set about forming his cabinet. The task was made more difficult by the fact that both Castlereagh and Canning had ruled themselves out of consideration by fighting a duel. Having received five refusals for the office, Perceval had to serve as his own Chancellor of the Exchequer—characteristically declining to accept the salary

Why was Spencer Perceval assassinated?

At 5:15 pm, on the evening of 11 May 1812, Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry into the Orders in Council. As he entered the lobby of the House of Commons, a man stepped forward, drew a pistol, and shot him in the chest. Perceval fell to the floor after uttering something that was variously heard as “murder” and “oh my God.”.

These were his last words. He had been carried into an adjoining room and propped up on a table with his feet on two chairs by the time he was senseless, although there was still a faint pulse. Within a few minutes, a pulse was no longer detected, and Perceval was pronounced dead by the surgeon

He was buried on 16 May 1812 in the Egmont vault at St Luke’s Church, Charlton, London. He was buried privately, as requested by his widow. The pallbearers were Lord Eldon, Lord Liverpool, Lord Harrowby, and Richard Ryder. The day before, Bellingham had been tried, and, when asked to enter a plea of insanity, he refused and was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged on 18 May.

How Many Children Did Spencer Perceval Have?

Spencer and Jane Perceval had 13 children, of whom 12 survived to adulthood. Four of the daughters never married and lived together all their lives. During their mother’s life, they lived with her in Elm Grove, Ealing; after her death, the sisters moved to nearby Pitzhanger Manor House, while their brother Spencer took over Elm Grove. Cousin marriage was common: the remaining two daughters and two of the sons took this path.

Perceval’s youngest child, Ernest Augustus, was born shortly after Perceval became chancellor (Princess Caroline was godmother). Jane Perceval fell ill after the birth, and the family moved out of the damp and draughty Belsize House, spending a few months in Lord Teignmouth’s house in Clapham before finding a suitable country house in Ealing.

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Brought to you by:

Sam Habeeb

"Shadow MP Campaigner of Ealing North"

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