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Edward Oxford
Edward Oxford (19 April 1822 – 23 April 1900) was an English man who attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840. He was the first of seven unconnected people who tried to kill her between 1840 and 1882. Born and raised in Birmingham, he showed erratic behaviour which was sometimes threatening or violent. He had a series of jobs in pubs, all of which he lost because of his conduct. In 1840, shortly after being dismissed from yet another pub, he purchased two pistols and fired twice at Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. No-one was hurt.
Oxford was arrested and charged with high treason. A jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity and he was detained indefinitely at Her Majesty's pleasure at the two State Criminal Lunatic Asylums: first at Bethlem Royal Hospital and then, after 1864, Broadmoor Hospital. Visitors and staff did not consider him insane.
In 1867 Oxford was given the offer of release if he relocated to a British colony; he accepted and settled in Melbourne, Australia, under the new name "John Freeman". He worked as a decorator, married and became a respected figure at his local church. He began writing stories on the seedier aspects of Melbourne life for The Argus, which were published under the pseudonym "Liber". He later published a book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life, which looks at both the wealthy and seamy parts of Melbourne.
Oxford's trial, and the later M'Naghten case, led to an overhaul of the law on criminal insanity in England. In January 1843 Daniel M'Naghten murdered Edward Drummond—the private secretary to the Prime Minister—mistaking him for the Prime Minister, Robert Peel. Like Oxford, M'Naghten was also found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. The cases of Oxford and M'Naghten prompted the judiciary to frame the M'Naghten rules on instructions to be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.
Edward Oxford was born in Birmingham, England, on 19 April 1822. His parents were George Oxford and his wife Hannah (née Marklew). The couple met in Birmingham's Hope and Anchor tavern, which was owned by Hannah's parents; George was a goldsmith and chaser and earned an average of £20 a week. Edward was the third of the couple's seven children, although only four survived until 1829. According to Jenny Sinclair, Edward's biographer, George's behaviour was erratic when he was younger and he was an "impulsive and a heavy drinker" by the time he was twenty. George and Hannah's relationship was abusive and George, at various times, threatened, starved, beat and threw a pot at Hannah, which left her with a scar. George died in June 1829 when Edward was seven years old, by which time the family were living in London.
On her husband's death, Hannah returned to Birmingham with Oxford before they moved back to London, where Hannah initially became a housekeeper for a banker. According to the historian Paul Murphy, Oxford's behaviour as a youth was erratic and he had "fits of unprovoked, maniacal laughter"; this behaviour caused the failure of two food outlets his mother was then operating. By 1831 Oxford was being cared for by his maternal grandfather in Birmingham and had begun working for a tailor. When he was fourteen Oxford was sent to work at the King's Head, an aunt's pub in Hounslow, then part of Middlesex. His erratic behaviour continued: he turned off the gaslights when the pub was full of customers, assaulted someone with a large chisel or screwdriver—for which he was found guilty of assault and fined £1 10s 6d—and fired an arrow at another boy, injuring him.
When the King's Head closed eleven months after his arrival, Oxford took a series of jobs in other London pubs. He was dismissed from the Shepherd and Flock in Marylebone High Street after he attacked a colleague with a knife; he lasted only a few months at the Hat and Flowers in St Luke's, and four months at the Hog in the Pound in Oxford Street, where he was on a salary of £20 a year. He was sacked on 30 April and given his quarter's salary of £5. After leaving the Hog in the Pound, Oxford moved in with his mother and sister at 6 West Place, West Square, Lambeth.
Three days after he lost his job, Oxford went to a shop in Blackfriars Road and spent £2 on two pistols and a powder flask. He practised in his back garden, firing the guns charged with powder, but probably not loaded with shot; he also visited a shooting gallery in Leicester Square, where he practised with their guns. About a week after he moved in, he hit his mother for no apparent reason and threatened her with a pistol; she returned to Birmingham shortly afterwards, leaving Oxford in Lambeth with his sister Susannah and her husband William Phelps. Over the next month Oxford invented a fictional organisation, Young England, a pseudo-military revolutionary group of which he was the leader. He drew up a document of eleven rules, signed by the fictitious A. W. Smith; the first of these was "That every member shall be provided with a brace of pistols, a sword, a rifle and a dagger; the two latter to be kept at the committee room". He drew up a list of principal members—all fictitious—into ranks of president, council members, generals, captains and lieutenants, and each rank had a "mark of distinction" to signify their position, such as a black bow (for the president) or a large white cockade (for council members).
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Edward Oxford
Edward Oxford (19 April 1822 – 23 April 1900) was an English man who attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840. He was the first of seven unconnected people who tried to kill her between 1840 and 1882. Born and raised in Birmingham, he showed erratic behaviour which was sometimes threatening or violent. He had a series of jobs in pubs, all of which he lost because of his conduct. In 1840, shortly after being dismissed from yet another pub, he purchased two pistols and fired twice at Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. No-one was hurt.
Oxford was arrested and charged with high treason. A jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity and he was detained indefinitely at Her Majesty's pleasure at the two State Criminal Lunatic Asylums: first at Bethlem Royal Hospital and then, after 1864, Broadmoor Hospital. Visitors and staff did not consider him insane.
In 1867 Oxford was given the offer of release if he relocated to a British colony; he accepted and settled in Melbourne, Australia, under the new name "John Freeman". He worked as a decorator, married and became a respected figure at his local church. He began writing stories on the seedier aspects of Melbourne life for The Argus, which were published under the pseudonym "Liber". He later published a book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life, which looks at both the wealthy and seamy parts of Melbourne.
Oxford's trial, and the later M'Naghten case, led to an overhaul of the law on criminal insanity in England. In January 1843 Daniel M'Naghten murdered Edward Drummond—the private secretary to the Prime Minister—mistaking him for the Prime Minister, Robert Peel. Like Oxford, M'Naghten was also found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. The cases of Oxford and M'Naghten prompted the judiciary to frame the M'Naghten rules on instructions to be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.
Edward Oxford was born in Birmingham, England, on 19 April 1822. His parents were George Oxford and his wife Hannah (née Marklew). The couple met in Birmingham's Hope and Anchor tavern, which was owned by Hannah's parents; George was a goldsmith and chaser and earned an average of £20 a week. Edward was the third of the couple's seven children, although only four survived until 1829. According to Jenny Sinclair, Edward's biographer, George's behaviour was erratic when he was younger and he was an "impulsive and a heavy drinker" by the time he was twenty. George and Hannah's relationship was abusive and George, at various times, threatened, starved, beat and threw a pot at Hannah, which left her with a scar. George died in June 1829 when Edward was seven years old, by which time the family were living in London.
On her husband's death, Hannah returned to Birmingham with Oxford before they moved back to London, where Hannah initially became a housekeeper for a banker. According to the historian Paul Murphy, Oxford's behaviour as a youth was erratic and he had "fits of unprovoked, maniacal laughter"; this behaviour caused the failure of two food outlets his mother was then operating. By 1831 Oxford was being cared for by his maternal grandfather in Birmingham and had begun working for a tailor. When he was fourteen Oxford was sent to work at the King's Head, an aunt's pub in Hounslow, then part of Middlesex. His erratic behaviour continued: he turned off the gaslights when the pub was full of customers, assaulted someone with a large chisel or screwdriver—for which he was found guilty of assault and fined £1 10s 6d—and fired an arrow at another boy, injuring him.
When the King's Head closed eleven months after his arrival, Oxford took a series of jobs in other London pubs. He was dismissed from the Shepherd and Flock in Marylebone High Street after he attacked a colleague with a knife; he lasted only a few months at the Hat and Flowers in St Luke's, and four months at the Hog in the Pound in Oxford Street, where he was on a salary of £20 a year. He was sacked on 30 April and given his quarter's salary of £5. After leaving the Hog in the Pound, Oxford moved in with his mother and sister at 6 West Place, West Square, Lambeth.
Three days after he lost his job, Oxford went to a shop in Blackfriars Road and spent £2 on two pistols and a powder flask. He practised in his back garden, firing the guns charged with powder, but probably not loaded with shot; he also visited a shooting gallery in Leicester Square, where he practised with their guns. About a week after he moved in, he hit his mother for no apparent reason and threatened her with a pistol; she returned to Birmingham shortly afterwards, leaving Oxford in Lambeth with his sister Susannah and her husband William Phelps. Over the next month Oxford invented a fictional organisation, Young England, a pseudo-military revolutionary group of which he was the leader. He drew up a document of eleven rules, signed by the fictitious A. W. Smith; the first of these was "That every member shall be provided with a brace of pistols, a sword, a rifle and a dagger; the two latter to be kept at the committee room". He drew up a list of principal members—all fictitious—into ranks of president, council members, generals, captains and lieutenants, and each rank had a "mark of distinction" to signify their position, such as a black bow (for the president) or a large white cockade (for council members).