Assassination Attempts in Constitution Hill
Created by William Green on Mon, 11/30/2020 - 12:45
The road Constitution Hill in London, England, is close to the Buckingham Palace Gardens. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert would often ride through it in a carriage. Three of the seven assassination attempts against Victoria occurred here: Edward Oxford, John Francis, and William Hamilton shot at Queen Victoria in her carriage in 1840, 1842, and 1849, respectively. They all occurred very similarly, with each man firing at her carriage, failing to injure her or anyone else, and then getting swiftly captured and incarcerated afterward. Two of the would-be assassins were sentenced to life-long exile in Australia, though Edward Oxford spent many years in the pleasantly named State Criminal Lunatic Asylum as well as Broadmoor Hospital (both in England) because he was deemed insane in his conviction trial. John Francis was to be hanged, but Queen Victoria commuted his sentence to Australian exile. The sympathetic Irishman William Hamilton was also sentenced to exile, but only for 7 years. Unfortunately for him, he died while serving his 7-year sentence. Another Victorian politician, Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, actually died in Constitution Hill when his horse threw him to the ground and fell onto him. Otherwise, Constitution Hill is a fairly quiet thoroughfare lined with trees.
Sources: There Were Eight Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria (theculturetrip.com); 7 Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria (thesocialhistorian.com); Constitution Hill, London - Wikipedia.