Talk:Spencer Perceval

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[edit] Prophecies?

"In later life Perceval became an expert on Biblical prophecy and wrote pamphlets relating prophecies which he had discovered."

How exactly does one go about "discovering" a biblical prophecy? --Jfruh 16:55, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Death in Westminster

I've reverted an edit which claimed, sourced to some trivia page, that only members of the Royal Family are allowed to die within the Palace of Westminster, so that Perceval was not pronounced dead until he left the premises. I find this highly suspicious, and haven't found other correlating sources online. Death in Royal palaces is somewhat extraordinary in law — the Coroner of the Verge, or since 1887 the Coroner of the Queen's Household presides over inquests of persons whose bodies are found within their premises — but I would ask for a citation from statue law or at least a somewhat more scholarly source before perpetrating this notion. Choess 04:37, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Can't find the statute but the law is definitely there - and recently voted the UK's most ludicrous law! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7081038.stm Timrollpickering 11:02, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Query

How could he have held the post of Clerk of the Ordinance 18 years after he was killed? - JVG 23:08, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

My fault. Good catch. I've made a stub for his eldest son, Spencer Perceval (junior). Choess 02:11, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

How can Bellingham be considered "a mentally unsound man" when the article on John Bellingham states that evidence about Bellingham's insanity "was discounted by the trial judge, Sir James Mansfield?" Would not the fact that the judge found him sane not be enough to delete the above quote? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.64.111.149 (talk) 04:44, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Quotes

I don't think the quote on the article page is entirely "correct".

[edit] King's Counsel

According to the Britannica, Spencer Perceval was made a King's Counsel in 1796.--218.103.209.27 05:28, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Own Chancellor

He had to serve as his own Chancellor after obtaining six refusals of office.

...but every Prime Minister in the Commons served as Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1841 - does this reference a) imply Perceval was seeking to break this tradition 30 years early; or b) refer to the Duchy of Lancaster (Perceval seems to be the only PM to have held this - see List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom). Timrollpickering 19:23, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Abolition of slave trade

The abolition of the slave trade is usually credited to the Ministry of All Talents, yet here it is said that: "It was under Perceval that William Wilberforce passed his Bill abolishing the slave trade." This can at best have been only true in the most formal sense, as the Ministry fell in March 1807, the same month that the bill received the Royal Assent, so the bill must have been carried through Parliament before Perceval returned to office.Dudleymiles 20:50, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

  • The portrait in the noninfobox is by George Francis Joseph, 1812. Any way to add it as a caption, which is common practice? The point of the box seems to be to render it immune to improvements: it stumps me at any rate.--Wetman 23:55, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Granddaughters

In The Times of 1 January 1938 there is a letter by C B Gabb (a regular contributor), in which he states that two granddaughters of Spencer Perceval had reached 100 the previous year. Jackiespeel (talk) 18:11, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] War of 1812

While trade tensions were one of the causes of the War of 1812, I don't think this is relevant to the article since the war started after the inquiry and after Perceval was assassinated. As it's worded now, it seems to imply that the war was one of the reasons the inquiry was called. Perhaps the relation of the Orders in Council to the War of 1812 could better be mentioned near the part of the biography which mentions them. I have removed the sentence from it's current location, I have not moved since I think someone with more familiarity with the subject could better determine how (and if) it should be added to that section.--HarryHenryGebel (talk) 06:48, 23 March 2008 (UTC)