John Bellingham was a man on a mission.

He’d left his home in Liverpool three weeks before he made headlines across the Empire in Westminster one Monday afternoon in 1812, at the height of the Naploeonic wars. He’d rented a house, been to see a tailor to get a coat altered to suit his specific needs, with a deep pocket on the inside. He went to a gunsmiths and purchased a weapon with ammunition. Gun control laws surprisingly lax in those days, a bit like the USA now.

He left his flat, walked to the Houses of Parliament, lay in wait for the Prime Minister to arrive, which he did just after 5pm. He then approached the PM, and shot him in the chest. Afterwards, Bellingham sat down and waited to be arrested. Ten minutes later, his target, Spencer Perceval, became the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated as he died on a desk in an adjacent room.

Perceval’s last words were “I am murdered!”

Bellingham had his supporters in the trial that followed; he had been badly treated when he was in Russia a few years before and lost a lot of money in the process. He had been incarcerated for two years, and his constant appeals to the British Government through the offices of the British Consul, and later his MP, had been ignored or rejected. So he was understandably very angry, and some people thought justifiably driven to this ultimate act of violence.

He was transported to Newgate prison by cart, which was followed by a large crowd as word got round about what he had done. The government was unpopular with large sections of the public and to some, Bellingham was a hero. There was even a worry amongst some of the ruling classes that the murder could lead to a full scale revolution, such as they’d seen in Paris only 23 years previously.

Bellingham believed that, with what he saw as extenuating circumstances, he would be acquitted once the court had heard his story. He was wrong. He was executed just a week later, hanged in front of a solemn crowd, which included Lord Byron who was there to see the assassin “launched into eternity.”

If you go to a pub quiz, or ask a school child about assassinations, the names Kennedy and Lincoln will often come top of the list. The fate of Spencer Perceval remains largely unknown among the British public, and if it is ever used in a quiz it’s more likely to be on University Challenge than Tipping Point.

So remember the name Spencer Perceval, which may just be worth one point in your next pub quiz. Even better, remember John Bellingham. You’ll probably get two.