Roderick Maclean fails to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor

Background. Roderick Maclean was a poet apparently offended by Queen Victoria's refusal to accept one of his poems. Charles Vernon Hitchins testified that Maclean had been certified insane in June 1880, two years before the attempted assassination, and had been sent to Somerset Lunatic Asylum. In 1880 he had also sent letters to his sister Caroline Maclean stating, "If I cannot commit a murder one way, I will another way, and all can add is, if there is more difficulty, there may be more victims."

The Attempt. Maclean stood among spectators at the entrance of Windsor station yard. As Queen Victoria walked from the platform to her carriage, Maclean deliberately fired a revolver at her. This event was the last of eight attempts to kill or assault Victoria over four decades, marking a significant security incident during her reign.

Legal Consequences. The proceedings revealed Maclean's prior insanity certification and his writings expressing intent to commit murder. Multiple doctors testified that Maclean was insane and "did not believe he was capable of appreciating the nature or quality of any act which he might commit." The verdict prompted Queen Victoria to ask for a change in English law so that those implicated in cases with similar outcomes would be considered "guilty, but insane"; this led to the Trial of Lunatics Act 1883.