Pattern

enlarge [+]

Source

enlarge [+]

Description:

Drab colored earthenware jug, interior washed with white slip, and with silver luster bands a neck and handle and framing printed designs on either side.  One side printed in black with a profile portrait titled "JOHN BELLINGHAM".  The reverse inscribed "JOHN BELLINGHAM Who shot The R^t Hon^e Spencer Perceval in the Lobby of the House of Commons on Monday May 12th 1812".

The jug commemorates the one...

Description:

Drab colored earthenware jug, interior washed with white slip, and with silver luster bands a neck and handle and framing printed designs on either side.  One side printed in black with a profile portrait titled "JOHN BELLINGHAM".  The reverse inscribed "JOHN BELLINGHAM Who shot The R^t Hon^e Spencer Perceval in the Lobby of the House of Commons on Monday May 12th 1812".

The jug commemorates the one assassination of a British Prime Minister when on 11 May 1812, John Bellingham, a Liverpool businessman shot dead the Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval, as he entered the House of Commons.

Bellingham was tried on Friday, 15 May at the Old Bailey, where he was found guilty and sentenced to death.  The sentence was carried out in public three days later. Many prints were published commemorating various episodes in this event; it is likely that the portrait of Bellingham derived from the image of him in the dock published by Dennes Dighton the day after the execution.

Intriguingly, Henry Bellingham, who is descended from a relative of Bellingham's, was elected in 1983 as the Member of Parliament for North West Norfolk. In 1997 he lost the seat by 1,339 votes. This could be attributed in part to the 2,923 votes received by the Referendum Party candidate Roger Percival, who claimed to be descended from Spencer Perceval.