The Jubilee Plot was a supposed

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

attempt by radical

Irish nationalists Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

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 ...

during the

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the Golden jubilee, 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a National service of thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Serv ...

, on 20 June 1887. Those who presented the idea of a plot claimed that the

radicals Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

intended to blow up

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, Queen Victoria and half the British Cabinet. The story was closely connected to a set of forged letters by

Richard Pigott Richard Pigott (1835 – 1 March 1889) was an Irish journalist, best known for his forging of evidence that Charles Stewart Parnell of the Irish National Land League had been sympathetic to the perpetrators of the Phoenix Park Murders. Parne ...

, which attempted to implicate

Charles Stuart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882, and then of the ...

with supporting

physical force Irish republicanism Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

Background

British agent Francis Millen

The organizer of the assassination attempt was later said to be Francis Millen, a member of

Clan na Gael Clan na Gael (CnG) (, ; "family of the Gaels") is an Irish republican organization, founded in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Bro ...

. However, he had reportedly been a spy for the British authorities for several years (from 1885 under Edward Jenkinson of the Home Office with the approval of the Prime Minister,

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903), known as Lord Salisbury, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United ...

), and was allegedly encouraged by them to proceed with the attempt, to draw in more

Fenians The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood. They were secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centurie ...

, who could then be captured. In June various newspapers reported that a plot to assassinate the Queen with bombs planted in Westminster Abbey had been discovered. In October 1887, a recently deceased American, Joseph Cohen, was declared by the Assistant Commissioner of the Police,

James Monro James Monro (1838 – 28 January 1920) was a lawyer who became the first Assistant Commissioner (Crime) of the London Metropolitan Police and also served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 1888 to 1890. Early career Monro was ...

, to have been the financier of the plot; he had been visited by two Irishmen, surnamed Callan and Harkins, were arrested and charged with bringing dynamite into the country; both had been followed by the police ever since their arrival in Britain in June 1887. At their trial, Monro exposed Millen as the organizer of the plot, but Millen was allowed to escape to the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

where he died under mysterious circumstances. Callan and Harkins were sentenced to fifteen years each in prison.

Anti-Parnell forgeries

Earlier in the year ''

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 ...

'' had begun publishing a series of features called ''Parnellism and Crime''. The bombers were linked, by letters, to

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

leader Parnell and other nationalist Irish MPs. The letters had been supplied by a Dublin journalist,

, purportedly showing that Parnell had approved of violent methods by extremist nationalist elements. The letters were shown to be forgeries, written by Pigott and sold to ''The Times''. The case against Parnell collapsed. Pigott committed suicide and in a subsequent libel action ''The Times'' had to pay Parnell £5,000 damages. According to British journalist Christy Campbell, in his book ''Fenian Fire: The British Government Plot to Assassinate Queen Victoria'', Millen had been recruited by the British government "to stir the Fenians into bombing Britain" – a scheme designed to discredit the Home Rule movement. Campbell also claimed Millen was hired with the approval of the Conservative leader,

, the Prime Minister.

References

*Campbell, Christy, ''Fenian Fire: The British Government Plot to Assassinate Queen Victoria''. London: HarperCollins. 2002. *O’Broin, Leon, ''The Prime Informer: A Suppressed Scandal''. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1971

Notes

External links

Britain framed Irish hero with 'jubilee plot' to murder Victoria
at

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...