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C1868
Attempted Assassination of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf, Middle Harbour.
The best and earliest engraving depicting the attempted assassination attempt on the Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf, during his visit in Sydney in 1868. Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, was on a world … Read Full Description
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Full Title:
Attempted Assassination of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf, Middle Harbour.
Date:
C1868
Condition:
In good condition, with centre fold as issued.
Technique:
Engraving.
Image Size:
473mm
x 348mm
Paper Size:
528mm
x 422mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1868
Description:
The best and earliest engraving depicting the attempted assassination attempt on the Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf, during his visit in Sydney in 1868.
Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, was on a world tour on the steam frigate HMS Galatea and visited Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, and Sydney. He arrived in Sydney on 21 January 1868 and received a most enthusiastic welcome with many events held in his honour. The incident occurred while he attended a picnic at Clontarf on 12 March, organised as a fund raiser for the Sydney Sailors’ Home by Sydney barrister and politician William Manning. During the event, an Irishman Henry James O’Farrell who had suffered considerable mental illness, attempted to assassinate the prince. Although O’Farrell fired his pistol at close range, the bullet, on striking the prince’s back, glanced off the ribs, inflicting only a slight wound. O’Farrell only narrowly escaped lynching by the crowd, and was immediately arrested. The prince was nursed by the newly arrived Lady Superintendent of Sydney Hospital, Lucy Osburn.
Clemency for O’Farrell was refused, despite the prince’s own proposal to refer the sentence on O’Farrell to the Queen. O’Farrell was convicted of attempted murder, despite his evident mental instability, and hanged on 21 April at Darlinghurst Gaol. The prince, who had recovered completely by the end of March, left for England on the Galatea in early April and arrived on 26 June.
From the original edition of the Illustrated Sydney News.
References:
Gibbs & Shallard. Illustrated Sydney News. ISSN 2203-5397.
Collections:
State Library New South Wales: F8/39-40
State Library Victoria: PCINF SLVIC=1853-1872
National Library Australia: Bib ID 440095
Eugene Montagu (Monty) Scott (1835 - 1909)
Scott was a cartoonist and illustrator, in London, migrated to Victoria in the 1850s and worked as a photographer. On 20 July 1859 in Melbourne he married Amy Johnson. In 1857-65 he contributed drawings and cartoons to the Illustrated Australian Mail, Illustrated Melbourne Post and Melbourne Punch. In 1866 Scott moved to Sydney as chief cartoonist for the Sydney Punch. In 1867 he received a 250 guineas commission for a portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh. He was established in a photographic salon in George Street and in the 1870s his large wood-engravings and lithographs of rugged outdoor scenes, formal functions and public personalities regularly enlivened the Illustrated Sydney News. Bankrupt in June 1870, Scott was forced to sell his photographic equipment to meet his creditors. In 1871 the Sydney Mail employed him as its first artist. From 1880 the Bulletin carried some cartoons and occasional engravings of local dignitaries by Scott. The Brisbane Boomerang, founded 1887, ran his cartoons until 1891 when he drew the first cartoons for the Queensland Worker, continuing as its chief cartoonist until 1909. In 1889 he had moved to Brisbane and on 5 December married a widow, Mary Ellen Price, née Mehan; he lived there four years. In the ensuing years Montagu received less work as photographic illustrations replaced engravings and lithographs.
