Queen Victoria ruled Great
Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. It wasn't easy though. During her long
reign, Queen Victoria saw her kingdom through some
traumatic and difficult events. She was wildly
popular in England and still ranks among the most
beloved and well-known monarchs in the history of the world. Along the way, the
monarch would have to survive no less than
eight assassination attempts by seven different individuals. Today, we're going to
take a look at the 7 would be assassins
of Queen Victoria. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel, and let us
know in the comments below what famous historical crimes you
would like to hear about. OK, watch your six. We're off to jolly old England. [MUSIC PLAYING] Assassin number one was
18-year-old Edward Oxford, who has about the most English
name one could ever hope for. According to his
own mother, Edward was prone to acting
strangely, and often had random, maniacal
outbursts of rage or laughter. Kind of like the Victorian
version of the Joker. Though no one knows for
sure, this odd behavior may have been what cost
him his job at a local pub. What we do know is that
a few days after joining the ranks of the unemployed,
he purchased two guns and headed for
Buckingham Palace. The month was June and
the weather was pleasant. When Edward arrived, he
waited outside the palace with crowds of onlookers
hoping to spot the Queen or her husband, Prince Albert. Edward would have to wait
until late in the evening. But eventually, a carriage
emerged from the gates and turned up Constitution
Hill toward Hyde Park. Oxford waited until the
royal carriage was in range. Once they were close enough,
Edward fired two shots. According to the queen's own
diary, after the first shot, Albert took her hand and said,
"My God, don't be alarmed." That was pretty chill of Edward. Victoria assured him
she wasn't rattled. Victoria also didn't realize
the shot was intended for her. After the second shot,
Oxford was quickly tackled by people
in the crowd who reported that he was raving
about how a woman should never be able to rule England. Victoria, who was four
months pregnant at the time, was praised by the British
public for her bravery. Victoria, one. Assassins, zero. After surviving her first
assassination attempt, Queen Victoria
likely helped nothing like that would
ever happen again. But it did two years later. This time, the would be assassin
was John Francis, a cabinet maker and former actor with
a criminal record for theft. Perhaps encouraged by how
close Edward Oxford came to hitting Victoria, Francis
ran with the same play, and tried to shoot
her in her carriage outside of Buckingham Palace. In fact, John Francis
thought the plan was so nice, he tried it twice
in one weekend. First, on May 29, he
tried shooting the Queen on Constitution Hill, but
failed and scampered off. Prime Minister Robert Peel,
who apparently operated like Sherlock Holmes, set
a trap for the villain, and swore to catch him. Queen Victoria volunteered
to be live bait. The queen got back into
the carriage the next day for another trip up
Constitution Hill. However, thanks to Peel,
this time, the crowd was swarming with
undercover policemen. Francis was quickly apprehended
after drawing his gun. It was later determined
the gun wasn't even loaded, but they charged
him with treason, and sentenced him to death. The story has something akin
to a happy ending though. While Francis was
awaiting execution, Victoria and Albert discussed
the matter at length, and decided to take pity
on the wannabe killer. Victoria personally
commuted his death sentence. Instead, he was banished
from the kingdom for life, and served seven years at
hard labor in Australia. Victoria with two
points at three. Assassins, zero. [MUSIC PLAYING] Assassin number three
was John William Bean. Mr. Bean's father
was a metalsmith who hope that John would
follow in his footsteps. But it wasn't to be. John was born with
a four foot frame and a hunchback
that prevented him from being able to do the job. Instead, John Bean ended
up working at a newsstand. In 1842, the Bean
read an article about assassin number
one, Edward Oxford. The story described
Oxford's life after he tried to
kill the Queen, claiming that he had been
confined to an insane asylum, which, for
whatever reason, was portrayed as
a life of luxury. Sadly though, the
Beam believed it. His physical deformities
made him desperate, and he began to reason that
if he tried to kill the Queen, he would either end up
dead or in an asylum. Either one being believed would
be an improvement over his day to day existence. On July 3rd 1842,
a mere five weeks after John Francis
made his assassination attempts on the Queen,
Bean took his shot. JW Bean waited
outside the palace, and then fired at
Victoria as she passed by with her uncle,
King Leopold of Belgium. The gun, which was loaded
with papers, gravel, and bits of pipe, jammed. Robert Peel apparently
burst into tears when he heard
about the incident. As for Bean, he didn't
get what he wanted. He was captured
by the police who had started rounding up
every hunchback dwarf until he was found. John Bean received an 18
month prison sentence. Victoria, four. Assassins, zero. [MUSIC PLAYING] Surviving four assassination
attempts in two years is a lot for anyone. So luckily for Victoria, it
would be a good seven years before someone tried again. That someone was
William Hamilton. Hamilton, then 23 years old, was
an orphaned Irish farm laborer who had moved to London after
the potato blight ravaged Ireland. He came to England
by way of Paris where he had witnessed the
French Revolution of 1848 firsthand. By 1849, he was unemployed and
constantly in and out of jail. On May 19, 1849, Hamilton
fired at Victoria who was returning
from making one of her first public appearances
after recently giving birth. She approached the palace
via Constitution Hill, which at this point, you'd
think they'd have renamed Assassinate the Queen Avenue. Inspired by the revolutionary
spirit he picked up in France, Hamilton came packing
a pocket pistol. Fortunately for the Queen,
it wasn't loaded properly. Apparently, checking the gun
before assassination attempts wasn't much of a
thing back then. Hamilton took a shot
from point blank range. And had the gun actually
fired, he likely would have done
some real damage. Vic, five. Assassins, zero. [MUSIC PLAYING] Assassin number five
showed up in 1850. His name was Robert
Pate, and he would get closer to the Queen
than anybody before him. Victoria was on her way from
visiting her sick uncle's bedside when the 50-year-old
ex-soldier leapt out at her, and managed to hit her on the
head with an iron tipped cane. Some reports also claimed
that he had a gun. Though, if he did,
he didn't use it. The Queen wasn't badly
hurt, but did walk away with a black eye, a welt, and
a scar that lasted for years. Concerned that people would
think she was seriously hurt and worry about her, Victoria
made a public appearance that very night at the opera. She even called out Pate
for striking a woman, and joked that at least the
braver would be assassins had tried to shoot her. As for Pate, he was exiled
to Tasmania to serve, basically, the same
sentence John Francis had for attempting
to kill the Queen. Seven years at hard labor. Pate's motive for the
attack was never discovered and remains unknown. Who's keeping track of score? Victoria is unstoppable. Assassin number six would
be a 17-year-old boy named Arthur O'Connor. Although he hailed from London,
Arthur described himself as passionately Irish. At first, he hoped to restore
the reputation of the O'Connor name and join the pantheon
of great Irish heroes by killing the Queen. However, he eventually
changed his mind, and decided the better
option would be scaring her into freeing Ireland. On February 29,
1872, Arthur waited outside Buckingham
Palace for the Queen to return from an outing, as
had apparently become standard for all would be assassins. He asked a policeman when
Victoria would return. And then, pushed his way
to the front of the crowd near the gate she
would pass through. When the carriage
finally arrived, O'Connor aimed his gun, but
he never got off a shot. John Brown, an
attendant who had taken to traveling with the Queen
after her husband died, knocked the gun out of
the young man's hand. And then, grabbed him and
threw him to the ground. It was later learned that the
gun was never in working order. That's pretty good to
assume, at this point. Victoria's bodyguard, Brown,
was rewarded for his heroism with a gold medal and money. O'Connor was sentenced to a
year in prison and 20 strokes with a birch rod,
which, honestly, seems pretty lenient
since the other guys got seven years of hard labor. OK, we're just not going to
announce the score anymore. OK? Assassins, zero. Victoria, some big number. [BELL SOUNDS] Queen Victoria's
seventh and final would be assassin was
named Roderick MacLean, and he was an Irish radical. At the time, the crown
was under intense pressure from Ireland and Irish nationals
who wanted independence. And that gave MacLean
cause to hate the queen. However, MacLean also
had other issues. He had previously been
in an insane asylum where he had been diagnosed
with homicidal mania and a bizarre distaste
for the number four. We hear at Weird
History kind of get it. We don't like the number one. It's the loneliest number. Whatever the cause,
MacLean showed up outside Windsor Station
on March 2nd of 1882. As the Queen departed
the station by train, MacLean fired. [GUNSHOT] Unsurprisingly, he
missed completely, and the Queen wasn't hurt. Two onlookers disarm
MacLean and were thanked by Victoria on the spot. What, no money or gold medal? Cheap. What, you run out? MacLean was tried
for high treason. But in a lifetime
network twist, he was found not guilty
by reason of insanity. The Queen, who apparently
no longer felt pity for people who
tried to kill her, expressed dissatisfaction
with a light sentence, and urged her cabinet
to create harsher laws. [MUSIC PLAYING] You probably would have guessed
that trying to kill a queen would result in an
instant death sentence, but nothing could be
further from the truth. Edward Oxford was found
to be insane at trial and sent to an asylum. He was released in
1867, at which time he was banished from England. He went to Australia
where he died in 1900. John Francis was sentenced to
death for his assassination attempt, but the Queen
commuted his sentence, and he served time
in prison instead. John William Bean, whose
gun wasn't actually able to be loaded, was
charged with a lesser crime, and was imprisoned in New
Gate Prison for 18 months. William Hamilton was banished
from England for seven years. Pate was determined
to be insane at trial, but the court also found he
could tell right from wrong. And he was exiled to
Tasmania for seven years. Arthur Connor received 20
strokes with a birch rod, and a year in prison. Finally, MacLean was found
to be insane at his trial and was confined
to Broadmoor Asylum for the rest of his life. This outcome would
move the Queen to have her cabinet establish a
more stringent legal definition of insanity for future cases. Despite the fact that
Queen Victoria was one of the most beloved monarchs
in the kingdom's history, not a single one of the seven
men who tried to kill her were executed for their crimes. While she did eventually try
to make the laws tougher, she also recognized that the
repeated assassination attempts only made her more popular. Victoria herself has even
reported to have said, "It is worth being shot at to
see how much one is loved." That sounds like a
dysfunctional, royal, commoner relationship. So what do you think? Was Queen Victoria lucky, or
were her assassins just dumb? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
