Margaret Nicholson

Margaret Nicholson ( * 1750 in Stockton -on-Tees, County Durham, † May 14 1828 in London) in 1786 tried to George III. to stab. His unsuccessful assassination inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley and his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg to the 1810 published Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson.

Nicholson, the daughter of a hairdresser, went with 12 years in the service as a housemaid and worked in rich homes. After a love affair with another staff member, she was released and earned their livelihood through handicrafts. You did not drink and did not fall further on.

On August 2, 1786 Nicholson approached the king, under the pretext of wanting to give him a pleading letter. When he received the letter, in fact, a blank sheet of paper, she stabbed twice with a dessert knife on him, but half-heartedly. The attack took place when the king in front of the St. James's Palace in London rose from a carriage. George III. to the assassin who called "poor Crazy ", which you should do nothing, because they have done nothing to him ("The poor creature is mad; do not hurt her, she has not hurt me. "). In her apartment they found a number of confused letters in which she referred to herself as the rightful heir to the throne.

Nicholson was brought before a commission headed by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, in which they denied the intent to kill - they 've only want to frighten the king. The doctor John Munro confirmed that Nicholson was mentally ill. She was then admitted to the Bethlem Royal Hospital for life.

The king came to be quiet and prudent behavior in public good stead, which he was also aware, however, the number of his bodyguards was increased from 4 to 11, and the enemies of the king criticized the pardon without trial as " tyrannical " act

Published in 1810 Shelley and Hogg ( who came from the hometown Nicholson ) the " posthumous " named after her poem album - in fact the assassin lived but still.