In 1786 George III survived a second assassination attempt, this time by Margaret Nicholson, a 36-year old needlewoman (Ingram, 1991). She tried to attract the king’s attention in St. James’s with a rolled up petition, and when he moved towards her to collect it, attempted to stab him with a blunt knife (Appignanesi, 2008; Hibbert, 1998; Jay, 2003). The king was unhurt, and her second stabbing attempt was stopped by two royal retainers. When questioned by the Privy Council over several days, her story was evinced. She was the daughter of a barber from Stockton on Tees and had had several appointments as a servant in the households of respectable families. The last of these positions had been in the employ of Lord Sebright. She had been dismissed from his employ after it was discovered that she was carrying on an affair with one of his footmen. As a result of the loss of employment, and her lover, she had attempted to petition the king on more than twenty occasions for assistance. As she had received no reply from the king, she had gone to St. James’s to remonstrate with him. The Privy Council decided that her words and actions were symptomatic of insanity, and therefore she could not be tried for treason, as she would have been if she was of sound mind. As a result she was committed to Bedlam under the Vagrancy Act of 1744 for “her natural life” (Appignanesi, 2008; Poole, 2001). The British government insisted that the first year of her confinement was spent in chains (Andrews, Briggs, Porter, Tucker & Waddington, 1997). She died in Bedlam in 1828 (James, Mullen, Pathe, Meloy, Farnham, Preston & Darnley, 2008).
The assassination attempt was portrayed in the film "The Madness of King George", viewable here:
References:
Andrews, J., Briggs, A., Porter, R., Tucker, P., & Waddington, K. (1997). The history of Bethlem. London, England: Routledge.
Appignanesi, L. (2008). Mad, bad and sad: A history of women and the mind doctors from 1800 to the present. London, England: Virago Press.
Hibbert, C. (1998). George III - a personal history. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Ingram, A. (1991). The madhouse of language: Writing and reading madness in the eighteenth century. London, England: Routledge.
James, D.V., Mullen, P.E., Pathe, M.T., Meloy, J.R., Farnham, F.R., Preston, L., & Darnley, B. (2008). Attacks on the British Royal Family: the role of psychotic illness. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 36:59–67.
Jay, M. (2003). The air loom gang – the strange and true story of James Tilly Matthews and his visionary madness. London, England: Bantam Books.
Poole, S. (2001). The politics of regicide in England, 1760-1850: Troublesome subjects. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press.
Andrews, J., Briggs, A., Porter, R., Tucker, P., & Waddington, K. (1997). The history of Bethlem. London, England: Routledge.
Appignanesi, L. (2008). Mad, bad and sad: A history of women and the mind doctors from 1800 to the present. London, England: Virago Press.
Hibbert, C. (1998). George III - a personal history. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Ingram, A. (1991). The madhouse of language: Writing and reading madness in the eighteenth century. London, England: Routledge.
James, D.V., Mullen, P.E., Pathe, M.T., Meloy, J.R., Farnham, F.R., Preston, L., & Darnley, B. (2008). Attacks on the British Royal Family: the role of psychotic illness. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 36:59–67.
Jay, M. (2003). The air loom gang – the strange and true story of James Tilly Matthews and his visionary madness. London, England: Bantam Books.
Poole, S. (2001). The politics of regicide in England, 1760-1850: Troublesome subjects. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment