Edward Oxford (19 April 1822 – 23 April 1900) was an English man who attempted to assassinate
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
in 1840. He was the first of seven unconnected people who tried to kill her between 1840 and 1882. Born and raised in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, 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
Prince Albert most commonly refers to:
*Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria
*Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco
Prince Albert may also refer to:
Royalty
* Alb ...
. No-one was hurt.
Oxford was arrested and charged with
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...
. A jury found him
not guilty by reason of insanity
Not or NOT may also refer to:
Language
* Not, the general declarative form of "no", indicating a negation of a related statement that usually precedes
* ... Not!, a grammatical construction used as a contradiction, popularized in the early 1990 ...
and he was detained indefinitely
at Her Majesty's pleasure
At His Majesty's pleasure (when the reigning monarch is female, at Her Majesty's pleasure), sometimes abbreviated to the King's pleasure (or the Queen's pleasure), is a term of art in public law and in penal law. In public law, it refers to the ...
at the two State Criminal Lunatic Asylums: first at
Bethlem Royal Hospital
Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and television series, most notably ''Bedlam (194 ...
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
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, 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
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
—mistaking him for the Prime Minister,
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...
. 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
The M'Naghten rule(s) (pronounced, and sometimes spelled, McNaughton) is a legal test (law), test defining the Insanity defense, defence of insanity that was formulated by the House of Lords in 1843. It is the established standard in UK crimina ...
on instructions to be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.
Biography
Early life: 1822–1840
Edward Oxford was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England, on 19 April 1822. His parents were George Oxford and his wife Hannah ( Marklew). The couple met in Birmingham's Hope and Anchor tavern, which was owned by Hannah's parents; George was a
goldsmith
A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...
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
Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...
, then part of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
. 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 10
s 6
d—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
Marylebone High Street is a shopping street in London, running sub-parallel to Baker Street and terminating at its northern end at the junction with Marylebone Road. Given its secluded location, the street has been described as "the hidden wond ...
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
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...
, 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
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
.
Assassination attempt: April to June 1840
Three days after he lost his job, Oxford went to a shop in
Blackfriars Road
Blackfriars Road is a road in Southwark, SE postcode area, SE1. It runs between St George's Circus at the southern end and Blackfriars Bridge over the River Thames at the northern end, leading to the City of London. Halfway up on the west side ...
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
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
, 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
A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colours which is usually worn on a hat or cap. The word cockade derives from the French ''cocarde'', from Old French ''coquarde'', feminine of ''coquard'' (va ...
(for council members).
On 10 June 1840—the eleventh anniversary of George Oxford's death—Oxford walked to
Constitution Hill, near
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, and waited for two hours; the royal couple were known to take an evening drive most days and groups of onlookers were common at that time. At around 6:00 pm
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
—four months pregnant with her first child,
Victoria, the Princess Royal—and
Prince Albert
Prince Albert most commonly refers to:
*Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria
*Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco
Prince Albert may also refer to:
Royalty
* Alb ...
left the palace in their
drosky, an open-topped horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by the
postillions (the drivers mounted on horses) and two outriders. The carriage passed a group of spectators by the gates to the palace and travelled along Constitution Hill; as it came within a couple of metres of Oxford, he drew out his first pistol and fired. His shot missed: he said "I have got another", drew his second pistol and fired that after the carriage. The carriage continued on to the house of Victoria's mother,
Victoria, Duchess of Kent. The Queen recorded in her diary:
I was deafened by the loud report of a pistol, and our carriage involuntarily stopped. Albert was sitting on my right. We looked round and saw a little man on the footpath, with his arms folded over his breast, a pistol in each hand, and before half a minute elapsed, I saw him aim at me with another pistol. I ducked my head, and another shot, equally loud, instantly followed; we looked round and saw that the man had been quickly surrounded and seized. Albert directly ordered the postillion to drive on as if nothing had happened, to Mama's house. Just before the second shot was fired and as the man took aim, or rather more while he fired, dear Albert turned towards me, squeezing my hand, exclaiming "My God! Don't be alarmed". I assured him I was not the least frightened, which was the case.
Onlookers apprehended Oxford—some shouting "Kill him!"—and disarmed him; he did not struggle. One of the first people to reach him, Albert Lowe, took both pistols. Holding the guns, he was mistaken for the assassin, seized and beaten. Oxford, annoyed at the attention being on someone else, admitted his culpability by saying "I am the man who fired; it was me". Police soon arrived and arrested Oxford, who was taken into custody at the nearest police station, in
Gardner's Lane. According to Murphy, the decision by Victoria and Albert to continue their journey rather than return to the palace "turned near-tragedy into overwhelmingly personal triumph". They returned to the palace an hour later, by which time a crowd had gathered, greeting the couple with cheers. Over the next hours and days they made themselves publicly visible, showing the public that the royal couple trusted them.
On the way to the police station, Oxford hinted that he had not acted alone, and once he was in custody, his rooms were searched and the information about Young England was discovered. Questioned by the
Earl of Uxbridge—the
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...
, the most senior officer in the
royal household—Oxford again spread his tale of the conspiracy of which he was part. Subsequent newspaper speculation suggested the organisation may be connected to the
Chartists
Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of ...
—the working-class movement pressing for self-determination and democratic reforms—the Germans or a faction of the
Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
within the
Tories. The reference to Germany was concerning to some in Britain, as if Victoria had been assassinated, she would have been succeeded on the British throne by
Ernest Augustus, king of the German state of
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
. Murphy considers him "without question the most wicked, the most feared, and the most reviled of George III's sons", and observes that the reference to Augustus would have been "chilling to any British reader".
Although there was some initial doubt about whether his pistols were loaded, once Oxford was at the police station he was asked, and, in front of several witnesses, he admitted that they had been. On all subsequent occasions, he said they were only charged with powder but not with shot. Several people visited the police station to see Oxford, including
Charles Murray, the
Master of the Household;
Fox Maule, the
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
This article lists past and present parliamentary under-secretaries of state serving the home secretary of the United Kingdom at the Home Office.
Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782–present
*April 1782: Evan Nepean
*Apri ...
; and
Henry Cadogan, 4th Earl Cadogan, a member of
Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Civil Service, which deals ...
. Among those summoned to the station was a magistrate from the
Queen Square police court; he charged Oxford with "maliciously and unlawfully discharging two pistols at the Queen and Prince Albert". A charge of
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...
was added before the trial started. This carried a possible punishment of
hanging, drawing and quartering
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a method of torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of high treason in medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland. The convicted traitor was fastened by the feet to a h ...
.
The following morning Oxford was taken from the police station to offices of the
Home Department
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
in
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
where he was interrogated by the
Marquess of Normanby, the
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
. Oxford said to him:
A great many witnesses reagainst me. Some say I shot with my left, others with my right. They vary as to the distance. After I had fired the first pistol, Prince Albert got up, as if he would jump out of the coach, and sat down again, as if he thought better of it. Then I fired the second pistol. That is all I have to say at present.
That afternoon Oxford was questioned by the
Privy Council, although all he would admit to was firing the pistols. That evening he was sent to
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the pr ...
to await trial. While in Newgate, Oxford was examined by several doctors specialising or having a professional interest in mental illness. These included the
pathologist
Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
Thomas Hodgkin;
John Conolly, the head of
Middlesex County Asylum at
Hanwell
Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town.
Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. St ...
; and the surgeon
James Fernandez Clarke, who accompanied as the Oxfords' family doctor.
Trial: July 1840

The trial took place from 9 to 11 July 1840 at the
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
, central London. Three judges presided:
Lord Denman,
Baron Alderson and
John Patteson. The prosecution was led by
Sir John Campbell, the
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
, and
Sir Thomas Wilde, the
Solicitor General
A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...
. Oxford was represented by Sidney Taylor and
William Henry Bodkin. Taylor was a member of an organisation that opposed the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
, and they agreed to pay Taylor's fees as long as he was the lead barrister for the defence.
Campbell opened the prosecution by recounting the history of events and details of Oxford's purchase of the pistols and his practising in shooting galleries; he also referred to Young England and read out the rules and regulations and some of the correspondence, but made no comment on them. According to the
criminologist
Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...
Richard Moran, it was strange that Campbell spent nearly an hour reading through the Young England information, but made no comment as to its significance. Based on the transcript of the trial, Moran considers "it is difficult to ascertain if Campbell meant to ridicule Oxford by the introduction of this material, or if he had some other, undisclosed purpose."
Taylor provided two lines of defence for Oxford: the first was that the pistols were not loaded; the second that Oxford was insane. According to Murphy, the biggest weakness of the government's case was that they could not prove that the pistols were loaded. When questioned, a policeman informed the court that no bullet had been found, despite an extensive search of the area that included sweeping up the dust and dirt and putting it through a sieve; nearby walls were examined for bullet holes, but none had been found. Although when he was first questioned Oxford had said he had loaded the pistols, the arresting officer said he may have misremembered Oxford's exact words; Taylor passed off Oxford's initial claim as being a vainglorious boast.
After discussion of the evidence about the pistols, Oxford's sanity was examined. Several friends and family members all gave evidence that Oxford, his father and grandfather had exhibited unusual behaviour. Their evidence was followed by that of the doctors who had attended Oxford at Newgate; all reported that they considered he was mentally disturbed. Based on his interview, Conolly surmised that Oxford showed:
... an occasional appearance of acuteness, but a total inability to reason—a singular insensibility as regards the affections – an apparent incapacity to comprehend moral obligations, to distinguish right from wrong – an absolute insensibility to the heinousness of his offence, and to the peril of his situation—a total indifference to the issue of the trial; acquittal will give him no particular pleasure, and he seems unable to comprehend the alternative of his condemnation and execution; his offence, like that of other imbeciles who set fire to buildings, et cetera, without motive, except a vague pleasure in mischief—appears unable to conceive anything of future responsibility.
Giving evidence, William Dingle Chowne, a lecturer on
medical jurisprudence
Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal ...
at
Charing Cross Hospital, thought Oxford was not in control of his will; he explained that "a propensity to commit acts without an apparent or adequate motive under such circumstances is recognised as a particular species of insanity ... it has been called moral insanity". Conolly reported that when he asked Oxford why he had shot at the queen, he answered "Oh, I might as well shoot at her as anybody else". According to the archivist Patricia H. Allderidge "the singular pointlessness of it all paved the way for a defence of insanity against a capital charge".
After the closing arguments had been made, the jury retired for 45 minutes to make their decision. They concluded "We find the prisoner, Edward Oxford, guilty of discharging the contents of two pistols, but whether or not they were loaded with ball has not been satisfactorily proved to us, he being of unsound state of mind at the time." The judge, unhappy with the non-standard nature of the decision, bade them retire again to reconsider; they returned an hour later to say Oxford was "guilty, being at the time insane". Denman clarified "You find him not guilty, or he was
uilty but for his insanity". Oxford, aged 18, was sentenced to be detained
at Her Majesty's pleasure
At His Majesty's pleasure (when the reigning monarch is female, at Her Majesty's pleasure), sometimes abbreviated to the King's pleasure (or the Queen's pleasure), is a term of art in public law and in penal law. In public law, it refers to the ...
, a verdict based on the
Criminal Lunatics Act 1800
The Criminal Lunatics Act 1800 ( 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 94) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain that required and established a set procedure for the indefinite detention of mentally ill offenders. It was passed through the House of Comm ...
that allowed the state to incarcerate him for as long as it wished.
Incarceration: 1840–1867
On 18 July 1840 Oxford was taken from Newgate to
Bethlem Royal Hospital
Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and television series, most notably ''Bedlam (194 ...
at
St George's Fields
St George's Fields was an area of Southwark in South London, England.
History
Originally the area was an undifferentiated part of the south side of the Thames, which was low-lying marshland unsuitable even for agricultural purposes. There ...
, London. Also known as
Bedlam, the hospital was the first in the UK to specialise in mental illness. One wing of the hospital was the State Criminal Lunatic Asylum, and those incarcerated there had committed crimes while judged to be insane.
Little is known about Oxford's life in at the Bethlem Hospital. From the time he arrived, the doctors considered him to be sane. Conditions in the hospital were harsh and Oxford had to spend much of his time in one large room with violent prisoners; he was attacked with a
chamber pot
A chamber pot is a portable toilet, meant for nocturnal use in the bedroom. It was common in many cultures before the advent of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets.
Names and etymology
"Chamber" is an older term for bedroom. The chamber pot ...
by one prisoner. A visitor to the asylum in 1842 reported that Oxford spent his time drawing—his works "were uncommonly well executed, and evinced a natural talent for the art"—and reading. He taught himself to read French, but bemoaned the lack of opportunity to practise his pronunciation; when asked about his mental state, he acknowledged that he was there because others had thought him insane, but said he "was really very far from being mad".
A report undertaken by the
Home Office
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
into the hospital's criminal inmates found Oxford to be "healthy and sane". The case notes on him in February 1854—probably by Bethlem's superintendent,
William Charles Hood—described how Oxford "from the statements of the attendants and those associated with him he appears to have conducted himself with great propriety at all times". The notes recorded that Oxford spent much of the time learning: he had learned to speak, or had knowledge of, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin and Greek. He also learned to knit and play the violin; he became a chess player and a painter. As the historian Barry Smith notes, "Bedlam was his university". Oxford's case notes stated that "With regard to his crime he now laments the act which probably originated in a feeling of excessive vanity and a desire to become notorious if he could not be celebrated".
Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum replaced Bethlem Hospital as Britain's main criminal asylum in 1864 and Oxford, along with several other patients, was transferred to the new institution that April. He was in good physical shape, although suffering from constipation and
urethritis
Urethritis is the inflammation of the urethra. The most common symptoms include painful or difficult urination and urethral discharge. It is a commonly treatable condition usually caused by infection with bacteria. This bacterial infection is ...
. A journalist from ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' visited Broadmoor in January 1865, and described Oxford as "a fat, elderly man" leading a group of inmates who were decorating the premises. The journalist reported that Oxford "has now perfectly recovered his sanity, and is the most orderly, most useful and most trusted of all the inmates". It was also reported that as inmates were paid a small sum for working, he had managed to save between £50 and £60, although Sinclair states Oxford had savings of £6 17s when he left Broadmoor.
Soon after his arrival at Broadmoor, Oxford appealed for release to
Sir George Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...
, the Home Secretary, with the support of the chairman of Broadmoor, the deputy superintendent, the hospital's resident doctor and the prison surgeon. Grey ignored the request. In 1867
Gathorne Hardy, who had taken over as Home Secretary, wrote to the governor of Broadmoor, asking for a report on Oxford; he received a certificate attesting to Oxford's sanity. Hardy offered Oxford release, conditional on his emigration to the colonies, never to return to Britain.
Oxford accepted, and on 22 October 1867, aged 45 and after 27 years of confinement, he was released. He was photographed and his image was distributed to police stations to ensure he would be recognised if he returned.
Australia: 1867–1900
On leaving Broadmoor, Oxford wrote to one of the stewards at Bethlem,
George Henry Haydon, thanking him for "all of the kindness I have received at your hands"; on the question of his emigration, he told Haydon:
In leaving England forever I do what is certainly the best, for a man who has once been in the grip of the law ... It makes no matter what his offence, or whether he has paid the full pound of flesh ten-times over, the taint clings to him like a leprosy, & makes men worse than himself affect airs of superiority over him. All that, at a distance, & where he is unknown, is prevented. He can then find his own level, by putting on the bold front necessary ... in the future no man shall say I am unworthy of the name of an Englishman.
Oxford did not have enough money to cover the £25 fare to Australia, and the government refused to pay. Haydon gave him £43 18s—probably from several people, but Haydon was the main benefactor—and Oxford was able to pay for his passage, buy new clothing and still have £22 left for his arrival in Australia. The berth was booked in the name John Freeman: Oxford's chosen name for his new life. Oxford was escorted to
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
in late November and boarded the
SV ''Suffolk''; the ship set sail on 3 December 1867 and arrived in Melbourne on 7 February 1868.
There is limited information about Oxford's first years in Australia and he does not appear in any official records for his first five years in the colony. Sinclair identifies a "James Freeman" working as a painter in Melbourne between 1870 and 1879, which is possibly Oxford, but the first known reference to him was in 1873 when "John Freeman" was named in ''
The Argus'' as a churchwarden at
St James Old Cathedral, Melbourne.
In 1874 Oxford joined the West Melbourne Mutual Improvement Society, an organisation Sinclair describes as being "aimed to improve their members' minds with debate, supplementing the push of the time to create public libraries and other institutions to illuminate the working man's world". Oxford was vice-president of the society the following year and gave talks to the members. He began writing on the seedier aspects of Melbourne life and had articles published in ''The Argus'' in 1874 under the pseudonym "Liber"—Latin for "free man". He continued writing for the newspaper, introducing its readership to the city's slums and its inhabitants, providing descriptions of the people and their lives.
In May 1880 ''The Argus'' carried a story of a man they named as "John Oxford" who had previously attempted to shoot the queen. The man had been caught stealing a shirt and had spent a week in prison. There were differences between "John Oxford" and Edward Oxford, including their heights and ages. The historian Mark Stevens considers "John Oxford" was possibly
John Francis, who had also attempted to assassinate Victoria, but who had been transported to Australia, rather than placed in an asylum. Sinclair considers that "John Oxford" was unlikely to be Edward Oxford, but notes that during the time "John Oxford" was in prison, none of Edward's articles appeared in ''The Argus'' and he did not appear in the church records.
In 1881 Oxford met and married Mrs Jane Bowen (née Tapping), an English woman who had emigrated to Australia, and had been married and widowed twice. Oxford signed the marriage register as John Freeman and did not tell his wife of his former name or crime.

In 1888 Oxford published ''Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life'', a factual work that provides sketches of life in both the wealthy and seamy parts of nineteenth-century Melbourne. Some of the information came from the articles that he had written for ''The Argus''. He included chapters on the zoo and the racecourse and information on churches and markets. His first chapter was titled "What we Have in our Midst", and examines the city's slums, poverty and
opium dens. Oxford sent a copy to the former steward at Bethlem Hospital, Haydon, who had travelled through Melbourne in the 1840s and had written about the area. In the accompanying note, Oxford wrote "You are the only man in the world, besides myself, who could connect me with the book. ... Even my wife, the sharer of my joys and sorrows, is no wiser than the rest of the world." Haydon and Oxford continued their correspondence until Haydon's death in November 1891.
Oxford had continued with his work for the church. After serving as churchwarden in 1883 and 1885, he was the
lay representative for St James Cathedral at the Anglican Church Assembly for the
Diocese of Melbourne in 1887 and, in 1894, he was a
pallbearer at the funeral of
Hussey Burgh Macartney, the
Dean of Melbourne. Oxford, as honorary secretary to the
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
of St James, wrote to ''The Argus'' to raise funds for a plaque for Macartney.
On 23 April 1900, four days after his 78th birthday, Oxford died of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...
; he was buried in
Melbourne General Cemetery
The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large (43 hectare) necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North.
The cemetery is notably the resting place of five Prime Ministers of Australia, more than any other ...
.
Historiography
Haydon's family kept the letters Oxford sent to Haydon. In the 1950s his descendants gave them to the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
. In 1987 Barry Smith came across the letters and published the article "Lights and Shadows in the Life of John Freeman", making public the connection between Oxford and Freeman. Jenny Sinclair wrote a full-length biography of Oxford in 2012, ''A Walking Shadow: The Remarkable Double Life of Edward Oxford'' and then undertook a PhD on him, writing her thesis, "Lights and Shadows in Australian Historical Fiction" in 2019. Sinclair considered that Freeman and Oxford were the same person, partly based on her observation that a photograph of Oxford taken at Bethlem Hospital shows a marked similarity to one taken of "Freeman" in 1888, when he was representing the church at the
Melbourne Centennial Exhibition.
Legacy
Later assassination attempts and the law
Six others tried to assassinate Victoria between 1840 and 1882, one of whom, John Francis, tried twice in May 1842. After Francis's second effort, Oxford said to a warder at Bethlem Hospital "If only they had hanged me, the dear Queen would not have had all this bother".
According to the historian Georgina Rychner, Oxford became connected with the
insanity defence
The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a psychiatric disease at the time of the criminal act ...
. The medico-legal question about criminal insanity continued through the rest of the nineteenth century. The defence of insanity was used again in January 1843, when
Daniel M'Naghten walked up behind
Edward Drummond—the
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
's
private secretary—and shot him in the back, killing him. M'Naghten later said that he thought the man was the Prime Minister,
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...
. Following so soon after the acquittal of Oxford, Victoria was unhappy with the result and wrote to Peel in March 1843:
The law may be perfect, but how is it that whenever a case for its application arises, it proves to be of no avail? We have seen the trials of Oxford and MacNaghten conducted by the ablest lawyers of the day—Lord Denman, Chief Justice Tindal, and Sir Wm. Follett, —and they allow and advise the Jury to pronounce the verdict of Not Guilty on account of Insanity,—whilst everybody is morally convinced that both malefactors were perfectly conscious and aware of what they did! It appears from this; that the force of the law is entirely put into the Judge's hands, and that it depends merely upon his charge whether the law is to be applied or not.
The matter of the insanity defence was raised in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
, which put pressure on the government to clarify the matter. The government suggested the Lords should ask the judges of the
Law Lords
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...
to provide clarification on the situation. Fifteen judges reported back to the Lords and their answers formed the
M'Naghten rules
The M'Naghten rule(s) (pronounced, and sometimes spelled, McNaughton) is a legal test (law), test defining the Insanity defense, defence of insanity that was formulated by the House of Lords in 1843. It is the established standard in UK crimina ...
on instructions to be given to a jury for a defence of insanity. These included the direction "to establish a defence on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proved that, at the time of the committing of the act, the party accused was labouring under ... a defect of reason".
When
Arthur O'Connor was given a year's imprisonment and a
birching after he fired a pistol at her in 1872, Victoria had her
private secretary write to the Prime Minister to say "The Queen must say she is shocked at only one year's imprisonment considering how much she was alarmed at the time and she fully expects we shall have more of these things". Ten years later
Roderick Maclean shot at her at
Windsor station before he was set upon by schoolboys from
Eton College
Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
. The verdict at his trial was not guilty on grounds of insanity. Victoria was angered by the verdict and complained to her private secretary
Henry Ponsonby that "It is Oxford's case over again". Ponsonby wrote to
William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party.
In a career lasting over 60 years, he was Prime Minister ...
, the Prime Minister, passing on the Queen's thoughts:
Her Majesty thinks it worth consideration whether the law should not be amended. ...Punishment deters not only sane men but also eccentric men, whose supposed involuntary acts are really produced by a diseased brain capable of being acted upon by external influence.A knowledge that they would be protected by an acquittal on the grounds of insanity will encourage these men to commit desperate acts, while on the other hand certainty that they will not escape punishment will terrify them into a peaceful attitude – towards others.
Portrayals and popular culture
Shortly before his trial Oxford was visited by an Italian artist from
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843.
In 1883, the restricted space of ...
. The artist took a plaster cast of Oxford's face and head, and a
waxwork of him was soon on display, advertised in the press. The same year, the
caricaturist
A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures.
List of caricaturists
* Abed Abdi (born 1942)
* Abril Lamarque (1904–1999)
* Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003)
* Alex Gard (1900–1948)
* Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977)
* Alfre ...
John Leech drew a satire of Oxford, in which he "revived the iconography of the age of revolutions in portraying Oxford sporting a
tricolour cockade, with a
cap of liberty on his coat of arms", according to the political historian Gordon Pentland. Both the cockade and cap were symbolic of the
French Revolution. Alluding to Oxford's fictitious society Young England, the wording below the image describes Oxford as "the patriotic imitator of Young France".
The writer
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
took a close interest in the assassination attempt and subsequent trial, and thought Oxford "should have been smothered at birth", according to the Dickens scholar Clive Hurst. The events took place while Dickens was writing ''
Barnaby Rudge
''Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty'' (commonly known as ''Barnaby Rudge'') is a historical novel by English novelist Charles Dickens. ''Barnaby Rudge'' was one of two novels (the other was ''The Old Curiosity Shop'') that Dickens pub ...
'' (published in serial form between February and November 1841). One of the book's characters, Sim Tappertit, was modelled on Oxford; Tappertit is described as a "vainglorious apprentice" by Murphy and a "sinister and darkly comical figure" by Hurst. When ''
The Old Curiosity Shop
''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is the fourth novel by English author Charles Dickens; being one of his two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 t ...
'' was published in serial form between April 1840 and February 1841, it included a drawing by
Hablot Knight Browne
Hablot Knight Browne (10 July 1815 – 8 July 1882) was a British artist and illustrator. Well known by his pen name, Phiz, he illustrated books by Charles Dickens, Charles Lever, Augustus Septimus Mayhew and Harrison Ainsworth.
Early life
Of Fr ...
, also known as "Phiz", that included an image of Oxford holding a pistol pointing at Victoria; papers titled "Young England" are in his jacket pocket. In the mid-1840s the writer
George W. M. Reynolds published the series ''
The Mysteries of London'', which includes Henry Holford, a
pot-boy; this character was a combination of Oxford and
the boy Jones—a teenager who broke into Buckingham Palace several times between 1838 and 1841.
In 2010 the author
Mark Hodder wrote ''
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack'', a
steampunk
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...
novel whose plot centres on one of Oxford's descendants—also called Edward Oxford—who travels back in time to assassinate Victoria, only to be thwarted by fictitious renderings of the explorer and writer
Richard Francis Burton
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...
and the poet
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He wrote many plays – all tragedies – and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the Eleve ...
. Oxford is also used as a character in
David Morrell
David Morrell (born April 24, 1943) is a Canadian-American author whose debut 1972 novel ''First Blood (novel), First Blood'', later adapted as the 1982 First Blood, film of the same name, went on to spawn the successful Rambo (franchise), ''Ra ...
's 2015 novel, ''Inspector of the Dead''; the book includes Young England as an assassins' conspiracy.
Oxford's assassination attempt has been dramatised twice, firstly for the 2009 film ''
The Young Victoria
''The Young Victoria'' is a 2009 British period drama, period drama film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by Julian Fellowes, based on the early life and reign of Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Albert ...
'', and then again in 2016 for the television series ''
Victoria''. A
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
history series in March 2023, ''Killing Victoria'', included an episode on Oxford's attempt.
Notes and references
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External links
* at the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
Biography from Tarlton Law Library*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford, Edward
1822 births
19th-century Australian writers
1900 deaths
British emigrants to the Colony of Victoria
English emigrants to colonial Australia
Failed regicides
Failed assassins
People acquitted by reason of insanity
History of mental health in the United Kingdom
People acquitted of treason
People detained at Broadmoor Hospital
People detained in hospitals in the United Kingdom
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
Queen Victoria