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Queen Victoria

Riding in a carriage

In 1840, an 18yearold named Edward Oxford fired two shots at the young queens carriage while she was riding in London. Accused of high treason, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Another wouldbe assassin, John Francis, made not one but two attempts to shoot the queen in her carriage in 1842. That same year, young John William Bean tried to fire a gun loaded with paper and tobacco at the queen, but the charge was insufficient. Two more carriage attacks came in 1849 and 1850 the first by angry Irishman William Hamilton and the second by exArmy officer Robert Pate, who hit the queen with his cane. Finally, in March 1882, a disgruntled Scottish poet named Roderick Maclean shot at Victoria with a pistol while her carriage was leaving the Windsor train station. It was supposedly Macleans eighth attempt to assassinate the queen; he was also found to be insane, and sentenced to life in an asylum. In the wake of an assassination attempt, Victorias popularity usually soared among the British public.