Young Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, took a bullet at Clontarf — and survived
WHEN a young Prince Alfred attended a beachside picnic in Sydney’s picturesque suburb of Clontarf, it was unthinkable at the time that he faced mortal danger.
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WHEN a young Prince Alfred attended a beachside picnic in Sydney’s picturesque suburb of Clontarf, it was unthinkable at the time that he faced mortal danger.
Except to an Irishman newly released from a lunatic asylum, armed with two loaded revolvers.
In an act that rocked Australia’s young colony to the core, Henry James O’Farrell attempted Australia’s first political assassination 150 years ago, on March 12, 1868.
Twenty three-year-old Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was on a tour of Australia, joined the city’s high society for a soldier’s picnic on the morning of March 12.
It was then the treacherous O’Farrell approached the young royal from behind and fired off one of his pistols.
The prince was immediately felled and could be heard screaming out: “Good God, my back is broken”.
Sir William Manning, who accompanied the young prince, tackled O’Farrell to the ground and two more shots were discharged, one piercing businessman George Thorne in the foot.
Thorne’s daughter Emily was with him at the time and later recorded the event in her diary.
“It is impossible for anyone to imagine what a shock it was to us unless they had been there,” she wrote.
“It was an awful moment.
“What I see most vividly in my mind is our noble prince falling (onto) his hands and knees and then over on his back, look up and muttering two dreadful ‘Ohs’.
“I only have a dim recollection of a revolver being held close to the prince’s back but I did not see the man at all.”
She then saw her father limp out of the crowd.
“I almost screamed out ‘ah Papa what is the matter’ and he sad, ‘I’m shot, I’m shot.’
She went on to question how anyone could attack the son of “our noble Queen”.
Her outrage was shared by the rest of the picnic crowd and, after shooting the prince, O’Farrell was quickly captured.
Prince Alfred was whisked away to a tent while tensions boiled outside.
The scent of blood in the air soon stirred the crowd into a lynch mob — vengeance was sought for the second son and fourth child of their beloved Queen.
Newspapers later reported that O’Farrell was lucky to escape the mob with his life, as they attempted to tear him “limb from limb”.
People were heard shouting “lynch him,” “hang him,” “string him up,” and he was carried on to the wharf.
“By that time all the clothing from the upper part of his body was torn off, his eyes, face, and body were much bruised, and blood was flowing from various wounds; and when he was dragged on to the deck of the Paterson, he appeared to be utterly unconscious,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
No sooner was he on board than a number of sailors had a rope ready to string him up and it was only by the hand of Chief Justice Lord Newry that his life was spared that day.
Moreover, O’Farrell’s attempt had failed.
His victim escaped with a painful, but non life-threatening wound; the bullet had wrapped round his ribs, avoiding vital organs.
The Prince convalesced for two weeks in hospital, cared for by nurses trained by Florence Nightingale.
The attack was a major blow to the fledgling colony.
“This can at least be understood — that the deplorable disgrace to this colony — that it should have harboured such a wretch as this murderer to violate its hospitality,
must rest upon this part of the country for a long time to come,” the now defunct Empire printed at the time.
Australians flooded newspapers with messages of horror — it was evident the treacherous act had wounded the country’s national pride.
While languishing in jail, O’Farrell was asked why he attempted the assassination.
“Come, come, it is not fair to ask me such a question as that the prince is all right — the prince will live, you need not fear about him — it’s only a side wound “I shall be hanged but the Prince will live.”
O’Farrell was right.
Despite attempts from his lawyer to be spared on the grounds of insanity, as well as the prince’s plea for clemency from the noose, he was found guilty of attempted murder at hanged on April 21 at Darlinghurst Jail.
A public purse was later established to fund a new hospital in Prince Alfred’s honour, The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown.
Originally published as Young Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, took a bullet at Clontarf — and survived
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