Shooting of Perceval in the Commons lobby

On 11 May 1812, at about 5:15 pm, Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Perceval was expected to attend the session that day, and among the crowd in the lobby awaiting his arrival was Bellingham. At 5:15 pm Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry into the Orders in Council. Earlier that Monday, after taking a friend's family to a painting exhibition, Bellingham remarked that he had some business to attend to.