PERCEVAL, SPENCER ( 1762-1812). An Eng lish statesman. He was the second son of John, Earl of Egmont, and was educated at Harrow, and at Trinity College. Cambridge. He was ad mitted to the bar and soon gained a reputation as an able lawyer. A clever pamphlet on the abate ment of the impeachment of Warren Hastings made hint favorably known to Pitt. Obtaining a seat in Parliament for Northampton in 1796. he supported Pitt in his policy of war with France and of a strong rule at home. In the Addington Administration he was made Solicitor-General in 1801, and Attorney-General in 4802. In 1807 he abandoned the legal profession to accept the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer tinder Port land. In this position he conceived and drafted the 'Orders in Council,' which became extremely unpopular. His well-known opposition to Catho licism assured him the favor of George 111. He was in fact the real head of the Government ; and on the death of the Duke of Portland in 1809, Perceval himself became Prime Minister, uniting to his office of Chancellor of the Exchequer that of First Lord of the Treasury. He was retained
in power by the Prince of Wales on his accession to the regency. On May IL 1812, as Pereeval was entering the lobby of the House of Commons, he was shot and killed by a Liverpool broker named Bellingham. who believed that he had sustained while in Russia were the fault of the Government. Consult: Walpole. Life of Spen cer Prrceral, including his correspondence (Lon don. 1874) : Williams. Life and Administration of the Right Honorable Spencer Perreral (lb., 1856) ; Alison, History of Europe (Edinburgh, 1643-44) ; Jesse, .Memoirs of the Lift' and Reign of George 111. (London, 1867) ; Napier, History of the War in the Penin:pula 1851) ; Massey, History of England During the Reign of George 111. (ib., 1655-63).