Shooting Victoria
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264: “The state of Ireland is most alarming”: James Murphy 61.
264: … the suffering during the first few months of 1849 was among the worst of all: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 377.
264: In the end, one million died: Saville 70.
265: Victoria’s royal palaces became aristocratic refugee camps: St. Aubyn, Queen Victoria 222.
265: That month, the Chartists announced that they planned to march: Saville 91.
265: The troops in the capital were doubled and stationed out of sight at strategic points across the city, concentrating on the bridges over the Thames, upon which artillery was trained: Chase 300; Saville 109; St. Aubyn, Queen Victoria 223.
265: Eighty-five thousand men were sworn in as special constables—a government masterstroke, ensuring that the middle class, unlike the French middle class, would remain squarely with the state: Saville 109, 112, 227.
265: … 22-day-old Princess Louise: Jerrold, Married Life 205.
265: … estimates of the crowd differ widely: Dorothy Thompson, in The Chartists, guesses 20,000; Malcolm Chase, in his Chartism: A New History, 150,000. Thompson 325, Chase 302.
266: … it was found (after a suspiciously quick count) to have less than a third of the six million signatures claimed: Chase 313.
266: “We had our revolution yesterday, and it went up in smoke”: Albert, Letters 135.
266: … Young Ireland, a group who differed from the O’Connellites in their willingness to use physical force repeal the union: Sloan 162.
266: “The shock awakened mankind”: Sloan 209.
266: Lord Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was deeply alarmed by all this activity: Scherer 172–3.
266: … an excited crowd of six thousand: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 353.
267: Smith O’Brien forbade them to fell trees without the permission of the owners of the nearby estates: Sloan 258.
267: “This announcement gave a death-blow to the entire movement”: Sloan 258.
267: … the Times dismissively immortalizing the event as the “cabbage-patch revolt”: Sloan 285.
268: She would ride again today, bringing Alice, Affie, and Lenchen with her: All newspaper accounts of this attempt are wrong about which of Victoria’s children actually rode with her that day, most of them stating that Vicky, Bertie, and Helena were in the carriage. Victoria is quite clear on the matter, however, in her letter the next day to uncle Leopold: Alice, Affie, and Lenchen were the ones riding with her. Victoria Letters (first series) 2:220.
268: … the presence of the royal landau at the Palace steps signaled silently and almost supernaturally the Queen’s intent to ride: Morning Chronicle 21 May 1849, 5.
268: … nursemaids and footmen helped the children, and then Victoria and her maid of honor Flora MacDonald, into the carriage: Victoria Letters (first series) 2:220.
Chapter 15: The Man from Adare
269: He was an Irishman, having left Ireland for London at around the beginning of the famine: Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3.
269: He was a working man, as his corduroy trousers, fustian jacket, and greasy cap made clear at a glance: Times 21 May 1849, 5; Morning Chronicle 15 June 1849, 7.
270: He had been whittling for some time, shaping a chunk of wood into something like the stock of a pistol: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
270: He had actually encouraged his long-suffering landlord, Daniel O’Keefe … to arrest him for debt: Times 21 May 1849, 5; Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
270: “Between the two of us,” said Bridget O’Keefe, “we managed to keep him”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
271: … around 1826 they died or simply abandoned the infant to the Protestant Orphan Society at Cork: Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3. Hamilton’s age is variously reported, ranging from 22 to 28 on the day of the attack. Trial records from the Old Bailey state him to be 23 on 11 June 1849. (Daily News 21 May 1849, 5; Morning Chronicle 15 June 1849, 7; “William Hamilton”; Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3.
271: … a Protestant farmer outside of Adare, near Limerick: Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3.
271: … his employer sold the farm and emigrated to Canada with his family: The farmer is identified in the Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3 as Phillip Rynard of Graigue, Adare Parish, and as having emigrated to America. Carolyn Heald identifies Philip Raynard, formerly of Graigue, Adare Parish, as an immigrant to Ontario, Canada: Heald 60.
271: … “it was not right to serve under petticoat government”: Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3.
272: … the time “of Prince Louis Napoleon’s escape from Ham”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
272: … his arrest was not political, but for being out too late one night: According to a police report the day after his arrest: TNA PRO MEPO 3/19B.
272: Hamilton hadn’t “worked seven weeks since Christmas”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
272: “Why, Dan has got an old pistol”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
272: It was a pocket-sized, with a three-inch brass screw-barrel: Trew- man’s Exeter Flying Post 24 May 1849, 2.
273: … “not the best sort of powder”: Times May 1849, 5.
273: … “you must stop at home”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
273: By six, he was standing near the bottom of Constitution Hill: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
274: … “she has not come yet”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
274: Hamilton strode up to the palings and spoke to both the woman and to a muscular man on the other side of the fence: Morning Chronicle 21 May 1849, 5; Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
274: The man, deafened, felt something whizz past his ear and realized his face was scorched: Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
274: “Renwick,” she said, “what is that?”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
275: … “Thank God,” he said to Victoria, “you are safe”: Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
275: … George Moulder, Green Park’s head park-keeper, had been standing just twelve yards from Hamilton as the Queen passed: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
275: A police constable named Topley, and a private in the Life Guards, then vaulted the palings: Morning Chronicle 21 May 1849, 5.
275: … the great majority jumped to the conclusion that she had been hit: Lloyd’s Weekly 20 May 1849, 7; Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
276: Wemyss by this time was already certain that there had been no bullet in the pistol: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
276: … his name was William Hamilton, aged twenty-four—an Irishman from Adare, County Limerick: Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
276: … he had no friends or relatives in this country: Belfast News-Letter 25 May 1849,1.
277: There was nothing in his room besides two sheets lent him by his landlady: Times 21 May 1849, 5: two shirts, according to the Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
277: “He said he did it for the purpose of getting into prison”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
277: He did, however, send word to A Division that Hamilton be placed on suicide watch: Morning Chronicle 21 May 1849, 5.
278: “… the routine of a Royal birthday received a vast and visible stimulus from the impulse of public sympathy”: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
278: … “the indignation, loyalty, and affection this act has called forth is very gratifying and touching”: Victoria Letters (first series) 2:220.
278: The police searched the area exhaustively for a bullet: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
278: The Queen’s equerry Wemyss … was unscathed: Daily News 21 May 1849, 5.
278: And a thorough search of Hamilton produced a small amount of gunpowder: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
279: “I hope that you will not have been alarmed by the account of the occurrence which took place on Saturday”: Victoria, Letters 2:220.
279: Hamilton’s attempt was designated an “absurdity,” “an exasperating piece of folly”: Era 20 May 1849, 12; Times 21 May 1849, 4.
279: “The man who commits such an act in this country should be flogged at the cart’s tail”: Era 20 May 1840,12.
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br /> 279: … the Daily News … acknowledged the wickedness of pointing a pistol at “a person every way so sacred, in domestic as in political life, as that of her Majesty”: Daily News 21 May 1849, 4.
279: … “it has been found that there is no reason to accuse the person who discharged the pistol of a treasonable attempt”: “Firing at the Queen.”
279: “The accident, or the fact, of the man Hamilton’s being an Irishman may be made the theme of animadversion”: Daily News 21 May 1849, 4.
280: The Irish newspapers were particularly adamant in asserting that Hamilton had no intention of killing the Queen: Freeman’s Journal 22 May 1849, 2.
280: One attempted to claim that Hamilton might not be Irish at all: Belfast News-Letter 25 May 1849, 2.
280: The Limerick Chronicle investigated and found that though Hamilton claimed to be from Adare, he had no relatives there. Limerick Chronicle 23 May 1849, rpt. in Freeman’s Journal 25 May 1849, 5.
280: “Hamilton was a native of Cork, and no relative of any persons at or near Adare”: Limerick Chronicle, rpt. in Morning Chronicle 26 May 1849, 3.
280: The Cork Constitution quickly responded that the secretaries of the Cork Orphan Asylum denied that anyone named William Hamilton had passed through there: Cork Constitution, rpt. in Daily News 2 June 1849, 2.
280: “The Corkonians are most anxious to disclaim having reared the fellow who fired at the Queen”: Daily News 2 June 1849, 2.
280: “… fortunately there are no recent event [sic] which could afford political colour or excitement to a crime of this kind”: Daily News 21 May 1849, 4.
281: … “this country enjoys a complete immunity from any of those dreadful conflicts to which the rest of Europe is subjected”: Illustrated London News 26 May 1849, 342.
281: “Man shot, tried to shoot dear Mamma, must be punished”: Victoria, Letters 2:220.
281: The Attorney General, John Jervis, examined witnesses for three hours: Belfast News-Letter 25 May 1849, 1.
281: All of the O’Keefes—Daniel, Bridget, and young Edward—testified, but Hamilton’s mysterious young protectress in the milk line was nowhere to be seen: Times 21 May 1849, 5.
282: “It is, perhaps, to be regretted that the framers of the bill did not provide that transportation and flogging should be the punishment”: Illustrated London News 26 May 1849, 335.
282: Victoria and Albert formalized their plans for visiting Ireland, which they both had desired to do as early as summer 1843: James Murphy 77.
283: “Since Her Majesty came to the throne, there has been no period more politically propitious for her coming here than the present one”: Martin 2:192.
284: … their visit would not be a state visit at all, but “one having more the character of a yachting excursion”: James Murphy 79.
284: … similar indeed to an exhibition in Paris from which Cole had just returned: James 195.
284: “I asked the Prince … if he had considered if the Exhibition should be a National or an International Exhibition”: Henry Cole 1:124–25.
286: Hamilton quietly pled guilty: Preston Chronicle 16 June 1849, 6.
286: “The Queen might be perfectly assured of her personal safety”: Morning Chronicle 15 June 1849, 7.
286: Two years before, Colonial Secretary Henry Gray had completely reconsidered and revised the government’s policy on transportation: Hughes 552–53.
287: Hamilton was finally shipped aboard the convict ship Ramillies to Fre-mantle, Western Australia: Convict Transportation Register Database.
287: … his landlord, Daniel O’Keefe, appeared before the judges at the Old Bailey: Examiner 16 June 1849, 381.
287: … “this idolatry of the martyrs of crime and saints of the Newgate Calendar”: Punch 16:251 (1849).
287: … surprising the town’s inhabitants, who expected them to arrive the next day: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 393.
287: … the servants of one landowner lost control of their bonfire: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 393.
288: She landed in Cove the next day, and at the request of local officials, she ordered it renamed Queenstown: James Murphy 88.
288: “the crowd is a noisy, excitable, but very good humored one, running and pushing about, and laughing, talking, and shrieking”: Victoria, Leaves 161.
288: … “balconies were filled as if by magic”: Illustrated London News 11 August 1849, 88.
288: “… thousands and thousands”: James Murphy 89.
289: “Ah, Queen dear, make one of them Prince Patrick and Ireland will die for you”: Woodham-Smith Great Hunger 397.
289: “… no escort of dragoons followed”: Illustrated London News 11 August 1849, 88.
289: “Arrah! Victoria, will you stand up, and let us have a look at you?”: Illustrated London News 11 August 1849, 89.
289: … a “brawny wag” outside Trinity College, who with “enthusiastic attachment” shouted “Bravo, Albert!”: Illustrated London News 11 August 1849, 87.
290: “You see more ragged and wretched people here than I ever saw anywhere else”: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 397.
290: Her first procession through Dublin was “a never to be forgotten scene”: James Murphy 90.
290: “Mighty Monarch, pardon Smith O’Brien”: Illustrated London News 11 August 1849, 87.
290: Members of Dublin secret societies—remnants of the clubs promoted by Young Ireland—came up with a desperate plot to kidnap Victoria: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 387.
290: … “even the ex-Clubbists, who threatened broken heads and windows before the Queen came, are now among the most loyal of her subjects”: Maxwell 1:302.
290: The nationalist and Tory press, relentlessly hostile to the Queen during the early part of her visit, finally gave in: Loughlin 504.
291: … “the more the citizens of Dublin see Queen Victoria, the more she wins their affections”: Woodham-Smith, Great Hunger 399.
291: … “swarming around their queen like bees”: Illustrated London News 18 August 1849,126.
291: … “ran along the deck with the sprightliness of a young girl”: Times 13 August 1849, 5.
291: “… the pealing of cannon and the loudest concert of human voices that ever ascended from a people in praise of any Monarch”: Illustrated London News 18 August 1849, 126.
291: John Bright, the radical MP from Birmingham, was there, and was overcome: James Murphy 96.
291: “There is not an individual in Dublin that does not take as a personal compliment to himself the Queen’s having gone upon the paddle-box and order the royal standard to be lowered”: Victoria Letters (first series) 2:226.
291: The Times declared that the Queen had put an end to Irish faction and civil discord”: Times 15 August 1849, 4.
291: “… as long as Queen Victoria lives (may she live to see her greatgrandchildren!) there will be no disaffection—no disloyalty in Ireland.” Illustrated London News 18 August 1849, 122.
Chapter 16: Cut and Thrust
293: The cabmen and tradesmen on the fringe of the Westminster parks, as well as the policemen of A Division, all knew him by sight: Times 12 July 1850, 7.
293: … well-appointed apartments on the corner of Piccadilly and Duke Street St. James: Times 28 June 1850, 8; 29 June 1850, 8.
293: He always wore the same impeccable suit of clothing: Times 29 June 1850, 8; Morning Chronicle 12 July 1850, 5.
294: The bright colors … marked him as a dandy; Prince Albert described him that way to Baron Stockmar: Martin 2:285.
294: His gait seemed to defy gravity: “Robert Pate.”
294: … “it was astonishing how he preserved his equilibrium”: “Robert Pate.”
294: An inspector from A Division … nicknamed him “cut and thrust”: Times 12 July 1850, 7.
294: … abruptly stopping in his tracks, gazing about him, and then, as if suddenly aware he was being watched, running off as fast as he could: Times 12 July 1850, 7.
294: “I meet him often in the
parks”: Era 7 July 1850, 9.
294: Husbands would caution their wives not to draw his attention, for fear of violent consequences: “Robert Pate.”
294: Those few that acknowledged him earned from him an angry glare and a spasmodic shake of his stick: “Robert Pate.”
295: When the clock in the tower of St. James’s Palace chimed quarter past three, Pate stopped whatever he was doing: Times 12 July 1850, 7.
295: In the first pile were nine shillings, each queen’s head up: “Robert Pate.”
295: There, at exactly the same spot, Pate would descend from the cab, jump over a ditch, and disappear through thick gorse bushes: “Robert Pate.”
295: He would shout conflicting commands to the driver: Times 12 July 1850, 7.
295: The cabman, mystified by his daily customer, would spy on Pate through the trap at his feet, and would see him either wholly catatonic or in frantic motion: “Robert Pate.”
295: “I did not know what performance it was”: “Robert Pate.”
295: At Barnes Common, Pate would again leap out and shun every path, plunging instead into the deepest undergrowth: Times 12 July 1850, 7.
296: The sixpence and penny were for tolls at the bridges: Times 12 July 1850, 7; “Robert Pate.” The cabman and Pate’s manservant differ as to the exact amount.
296: “Mr. Pate did not want me”: “Robert Pate.”
296: Robert Francis Pate Senior[,] made his fortune as a corn factor, or grain dealer, in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire: Times 28 June 1850, 8.
296: He accepted nomination eagerly, provided the invitation was “the unanimous desire of the University”: James 173.
297: Peel persuaded him to stay in: James 173–4.
297: Cambridge welcomed the two deliriously: Times 6 July 1847, 5.
297: Victoria … fought breaking into a smile of mingled joy and embarrassment at the “almost absurd” position she found herself in when Albert … welcomed her: Bolitho 182; Bunsen 2:136; Martin 1:396.
297: She replied, assuring the university “of my entire approbation” of Cambridge’s choice of Chancellor, laying particular emphasis on that last word: Times 6 July 1847, 5; Jerrold, Married Life 299.
297: Albert turned out to be the one of the best Chancellors Cambridge ever had, guiding the university’s curriculum into the modern age: Gill 244.