Prime Ministers · 19th century

Spencer Perceval

1762–1812 · British

Tory

In office: 1809–1812

Spencer Perceval, a barrister who rose to be Solicitor General and Attorney General, became Prime Minister in 1809 while also serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His government pursued the war against Napoleon and passed the Regency Bill making the future George IV Prince Regent. On 11 May 1812 he was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, making him the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated.

How to spot them

▸The only British Prime Minister to be assassinated
▸Shot by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, 11 May 1812
▸Also Chancellor of the Exchequer while PM; evangelical lawyer
▸The Regency began during his premiership

In office

Assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons (1812)

Shot by John Bellingham, a merchant with a grievance against the government

Regency Bill making the Prince of Wales Regent (1810–1811)

Required by George III's final descent into illness

'I have nothing to say to the nothing that has been said' (c. 1809)

Retort in a debate on corrupt electoral practices

Orders in Council retaliating against Napoleon's Continental System (1807–1812)

Trade restrictions he championed; a grievance behind the US War of 1812

Quick-fire facts

•Bellingham was tried and hanged within a week of the killing
•Served as Chancellor of the Exchequer at the same time as First Lord of the Treasury
•A lawyer by training, he had been Solicitor General and Attorney General
•Succeeded by Lord Liverpool, who governed for nearly 15 years
•Had a very large family of more than a dozen children

Drill it — 5 cards

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Sources

GOV.UK History of Government — Spencer Perceval
Oxford University Press — Oxford Dictionary of National Biography