Henry James O'Farrell (183321 April 1868) was the first person to attempt a political assassination in Australia. On 12 March 1868, he shot and wounded

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 184430 July 1900) was sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893 until his death in 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Du ...

, the second son and fourth child of

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 ...

Biography

O'Farrell was born in Arran Quay, Dublin, Ireland, the youngest child of William O'Farrell, a butcher. The family moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, then later migrated to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. Henry O'Farrell was an alcoholic, and had been released from a

lunatic asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

immediately before the attempted assassination. O'Farrell had briefly been employed by his brother, a Melbourne solicitor, who had offices in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, and is therefore sometimes described as a law clerk. But O'Farrell's most recent occupation was selling fruit and vegetables in Ballarat's Haymarket.

Assassination attempt

In 1868, Prince Alfred, then 23 years old, went on a world tour, which included the first royal visit to Australia. There were planned stops in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Melbourne,

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, Sydney and many other places. On 12 March, the Prince attended the Sailor's Picnic in the harbourside suburb of

Clontarf, New South Wales Clontarf (Irish: Cluain Tarbh, meaning "meadow of the bull") is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Clontarf is located 13 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government ...

. O'Farrell, aged 35 at the time, came up behind the Prince and fired a revolver into his back. The assassin was immediately tackled by William Vial, a local coach-maker. For his actions, he was later presented with the prince's fob watch. Vial, together with bystanders, quickly subdued O'Farrell. The assassination attempt outraged the attending crowd, and O'Farrell was severely beaten and nearly lynched by the mob before police arrested him and removed him to safety. The Prince was shot in the back just to the right of the spine. The wound was serious, but not fatal. The Prince was hospitalised for two weeks, and cared for by six nurses trained by

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

, who had arrived in Australia that February under Matron Lucy Osburn. The attack caused great embarrassment in the colony, and led to a wave of anti-Catholic and

anti-Irish sentiment Anti-Irish sentiment, also Hibernophobia, is bigotry against the Irish people or individuals. It can include hatred, oppression, persecution, as well as simple discrimination. Generally, it could be bigotry against people from the island of Ire ...

, directed at all Irish people, including

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Loyalists. The next day, 20,000 people attended an "indignation meeting" to protest "yesterday's outrage". O'Farrell first claimed, falsely, to be under orders from the

Fenian Brotherhood The Fenian Brotherhood () was an Irish republican organisation founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Membe ...

. Although anti-British and anti-Royalist, he later denied being a Fenian.

Trial and execution

O'Farrell was tried at Sydney on 30 March 1868. The

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

with the thankless task of defending him was Butler Cole Aspinall, who had previously defended the rebel leaders of the

Eureka Stockade The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia, during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, wh ...

. Aspinall sought to have O'Farrell found not guilty by reason of insanity. He cited O'Farrell's history of mental illness and recent release from an asylum. O'Farrell was convicted and sentenced to death by judge Alfred Cheeke. Prince Alfred himself tried unsuccessfully to intercede and save his would-be killer's life. O'Farrell was hanged on 21 April 1868 in the

Darlinghurst Gaol The Darlinghurst Gaol is a former Australian prison located in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Darlinghurst, New South Wales. The site is bordered by Darlinghurst Road, Burton and Forbes streets, with entrances on Forbes and Burton Streets. The ...

at the age of 35.

Recovery of Prince Alfred

Prince Alfred soon recovered, and returned home in early April 1868. On 24 March, the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

voted to erect a memorial building. In order "to raise a permanent and substantial monument in testimony of the heartfelt gratitude of the community at the recovery of HRH". It was to be the Prince Alfred Hospital. Queen Victoria permitted the use of the term "Royal", so the memorial building was the

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School at the ...

. It was built using funds raised by public subscription, and is today an important hospital in New South Wales. Sir

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and the longest-serving non-consecutive Premier of New South Wales, premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in ...

, a Minister in the colonial government, and future

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

, stirred up persecution of Irish Catholics in the colony after O'Farrell's attack. Parkes claimed that the mad killer's initial claims of being Fenian were true and that there were extensive Fenian conspiracies at work. When Canadian politician and anti-Fenian D'Arcy McGee was killed by another alleged Fenian on 7 April, the excitement increased. Soon the excitement died down, and the public began questioning Parkes' unsupported claims. These became an embarrassment, and he resigned as a Minister in September.

In popular culture

The event was dramatised in the play '' Duke of Edinburgh Assassinated or The Vindication of Henry Parkes''. Henry Parkes' response to the crime was also satirised in the 1868 stage play '' The New Crime''.

References

External links

*McKinlay, Brian ''The First Royal Tour, 1867–1868'', (London: Robert Hale & Company, c1970, 1971), 200p. *Travers, Robert ''The Phantom Fenians of New South Wales'' (Kangaroo Press, 1986), 176p. . *Murphy, Peter ''Fenian Fear'' (Peter Murphy, 2018), 177p.
www.fenianfear.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofarrell, Henry James 1833 births 1868 deaths Executed people from County Dublin Executed failed assassins People executed by New South Wales Irish people executed abroad Executed Australian people 19th-century Irish people People executed by Australian colonies by hanging Irish emigrants to Australia