Spencer Perceval

After Perceval's assassination Spencer junior had been voted an annuity of £1000 free legal training at Lincoln's Inn and a tellership of the Exchequer all of which left him financially secure. Her husband was a lawyer who became an MP in 1846 and served as Home Secretary. Perceval’s family connections obtained a number of positions for him: Deputy Recorder of Northampton and Commissioner of Bankrupts in 1790; Surveyor of the Maltings and Clerk of the Irons in the Mint — a sinecure worth £119 a year – in 1791; counsel to the Board of Admiralty in 1794.

His position was looking stronger by the spring of 1812 when John Bellingham a merchant with a grievance against the Government shot him dead in the lobby of the House of Commons. At the head of a weak ministry Perceval faced a number of crises during his term in office including an inquiry into the disastrous Walcheren expedition the madness of King George III economic depression and Luddite riots. Perceval was opposed to Catholic emancipation and reform of Parliament; he supported the war against Napoleon and the abolition of the slave trade.