Background
Spencer Perceval was born on 1 November 1762, the second son of Sir John Perceval, second earl of Egmont, and his second wife, Catherine Compton.
politician prime minister statesman
Spencer Perceval was born on 1 November 1762, the second son of Sir John Perceval, second earl of Egmont, and his second wife, Catherine Compton.
He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He then trained for the bar at Lincoln’s Inn, and began a practice on the midland circuit.
Perceval published two pamphlets — one on constitutional issues raised by the impeachment of Warren Hastings, and the other on the practicalities of prosecuting radical agitators—and obtained the Crown prosecution briefs (cases) at the trial of Thomas Paine in 1792 and that of Horne Tooke in 1794. He declined an offer from William Pitt (the Younger) of the chief secretaryship in Ireland in 1795, because the salary would not support his growing family. He remained instead at the bar. In 1796 he became a King’s Counsel and was elected M.P. for Northampton, where he was deputy recorder.
Perceval accepted his first ministerial post as solicitor general, in Addington’s government, in 1801. Promoted to attorney general in 1802, he successfully conducted the treason trial of Colonel Despard and adeptly defended Addington’s ministry in the House of Commons.
He retained office on Pitt’s return to power in 1804 but resigned on Pitt’s death in 1806, returning to the backbench, where he became a fierce critic of William Wyndham Grenville and Charles James Fox. After the death of Fox, Perceval was invited to join the government but refused, and it was his opposition to the government bill to make concessions to Catholics in Ireland that contributed to the downfall of the “Ministry of all the Talents” in March 1807. He was appointed chancellor of the exchequer, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and leader of the House of Commons in the Duke of Portland’s ministry in 1807.
Portland’s illness in 1809 prompted some maneuvering for position, which eventually ended with Perceval’s appointment as prime minister. However, he found great difficulty in forming a ministry, owing to the feuds between Canning and Castlereagh. Indeed, he had to retain the post of chancellor of the exchequer himself, since he was unable to find a replacement; but his personal integrity did now allow him to accept the salary for the latter appointment.
Unfortunately, on the evening of 11 May 1812, Perceval was shot in the chest in the lobby of the House of Commons and mortally wounded, thereby becoming the only British prime minister ever to be assassinated. His assassin, John Bellingham, who acted alone, was a mentally deranged bankrupt who sought government compensation for debts he had incurred in Russia. Bellingham had been angered by Perceval’s refusal to introduce a petition into the House of Commons on his behalf. The assassin gave himself up immediately, stood trial at the Old Bailey, was sentenced to death, and was executed on 18 May, two days after Perceval’s funeral. The House of Commons voted an annuity for Perceval’s grieving wife and a grant for the support of his large family. Memorial sermons were preached across the nation, and a classical memorial to Perceval was placed in Westminster Abbey. It was a tragic end to a premiership that has been described as the “most efficient and durable” of the five administrations that followed Pitt’s resignation in 1801.
A thoroughly orthodox Anglican, he was accused of religious bigotry, but he objected not to the practice of religion by catholics and nonconformists, but to their being allowed political power.
Nevertheless, he was conscious of the existence of abuses in the Anglican church and supported efforts to end pluralities and non-residence of the clergy and to increase low clerical incomes.
He was a staunch conservative, a devout evangelical Christian, and a tireless campaigner against inhumanity.
An uncompromising supporter of the war with revolutionary France and of the younger Pitt’s stern fiscal policy, Perceval refused to accept the label of Tory throughout his political career; he regarded himself first and foremost as a staunch Evangelical. He was highly esteemed by William Wilberforce, whose campaigns for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade he strongly supported. He disapproved strongly of gambling and hunting, favored making adultery a criminal offense, and refused to transact business on Sundays. He considered the primacy of the Church of England essential to the security of the state, and he strongly opposed Pitt’s proposal for Catholic emancipation. After Pitt
Although not a great prime minister, Perceval has been described as “a capable conductor of the nation’s financial business,” who showed “a clear-sighted determination to support the war against Napoleonic hegemony. . . . [he] might have grown in stature had his fate allowed him a longer career”
Quotes from others about the person
George III had declared him “the most straightforward man he had almost ever known.”
In August 1790, although still penniless, he secretly married Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Wilson, M.P. for Sussex, and the newlyweds set up housekeeping over a carpet shop. The marriage proved particularly happy, and in October 1791 the first of their 12 children was born.
Prime minister