Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 May 11

On 11 May 1812, Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot and killed in the lobby of the House of Commons in London. His assailant, John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant, was tried and convicted, and on 18 May was hanged at Newgate Prison. Despite initial fears that the assassination might be linked to a general uprising, Bellingham had in fact acted alone, as a protest against the government's failure to compensate him for his imprisonment in Russia for a trading debt. After Perceval's death, parliament made generous provision to his widow and children, but his ministry was soon forgotten and his policies reversed. He had led the Tory government during a critical phase of the Napoleonic Wars, and his determination to prosecute the war using the harshest of measures had caused widespread poverty and unrest. He is generally better known for the manner of his death than for any of his achievements. Later historians have characterised Bellingham's hasty trial and execution as contrary to the principles of justice. (Full article...)

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