George Andrew Campbell McMahon (c.1902 – 1970), also known as Jerome Bannigan, was convicted for his failed
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
attempt against King
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
of the United Kingdom at
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1936.
Early life and career
McMahon was born as Jerome Bannigan in
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
, on the outskirts of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
His parents were natives of
County Tyrone
County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...
, Ireland.
He was a keen
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
in his youth until he suffered a hip injury at the age of twelve.
Bannigan relocated to London from around 1926 and engaged in social work. He began to pass on information to
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
.
Bannigan changed his name to George Andrew Campbell McMahon from 1933.
McMahon was a low-level fraudster and gun-runner to
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
when he came to the Italians' attention. They offered him cash for information about armaments.
He was a paid informant for the Security Service (later
MI5) by 1935.
1936 incident
On 16 July 1936, as Edward VIII
rode Rode may refer to:
People
*Ajmer Rode, Canadian writer
*Bernd Michael Rode (born 1946), Austrian chemistry professor
*Bernhard Rode (1725–1797), German painter
*Ebbe Rode (1910–1998), Danish stage and film actor
*Franc Rode (born 1934), Slove ...
through Hyde Park, following the
Colour
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
ceremony, McMahon produced a revolver.
Bystanders—including a Mrs Alice Lawrence, who was standing next to McMahon—and members of the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
reportedly subdued McMahon, after a struggle, during which the unfired revolver fell near the king's horse as it continued down
Constitution Hill.
McMahon later stated in a 40-page document entitled "He Was My King" that he was hired by the Italian embassy in London to kill the King, but he deliberately botched the assassination attempt. His attempts to contact the security service and the Home Office had failed.
McMahon was subsequently sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labour on 14 September 1936, for possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
References
External links
The Independent: I was paid £150 to shoot the King, claimed caretakerNewsreel of assassination attempt on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, George
1970 deaths
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales
1936 crimes in the United Kingdom
1930s crimes in London
Failed regicides
1936 in England
Scottish journalists
Scottish people of Irish descent
People from Govan
Year of birth uncertain