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Fenian Fire
A historical investigation into one of the most serpentine attempts on Queen Victoria’s life that reveals for the first time the true instigator at the heart of government.
There were eight attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria during her long reign; four of them were of Irish origin. The most serious of all was the ‘Jubilee Plot’, a conspiracy apparently hatched in New York by the Fenian Brotherhood to blow up the Queen, her family and most of the British Cabinet with dynamite at the great service of thanksgiving to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her accession, held at Westminster Abbey in June 1887.
The plot was ‘uncovered’ by Scotland Yard with just a few days to go. Several of the bombers were caught, tried and sentenced to penal servitude for life. But – warned off in time – the master bomber escaped to America…
Now, using recently declassified Foreign Office Secret files (marked ‘Fenian Brotherhood’), the author discloses for the first time the huge secret at the heart of the British counter-intelligence operation against militant Irish the entire conspiracy was masterminded for its own reasons by a clandestine British agency reporting directly to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury.
There were eight attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria during her long reign; four of them were of Irish origin. The most serious of all was the ‘Jubilee Plot’, a conspiracy apparently hatched in New York by the Fenian Brotherhood to blow up the Queen, her family and most of the British Cabinet with dynamite at the great service of thanksgiving to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her accession, held at Westminster Abbey in June 1887.
The plot was ‘uncovered’ by Scotland Yard with just a few days to go. Several of the bombers were caught, tried and sentenced to penal servitude for life. But – warned off in time – the master bomber escaped to America…
Now, using recently declassified Foreign Office Secret files (marked ‘Fenian Brotherhood’), the author discloses for the first time the huge secret at the heart of the British counter-intelligence operation against militant Irish the entire conspiracy was masterminded for its own reasons by a clandestine British agency reporting directly to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury.
Hardcover
First published April 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 3, 2021
This is an impressive book not just because of the mass of detail but also in its compelling style. Possibly it's the author's experience as a journalist that makes the book so readable, but it's full of action and character. And the author's comments keep the reader alive to the implications of what's unfolding. It's a complicated story, and one you have to follow by allotting time to it. It's not a story you can dip into on the bus or the tube, or in a waiting room. It deserves time, but it repays time spent.
Campbell traces Irish separatism from the plans for armed uprising in the aftermath of the American Civil War, all the way through to the political impact of the Jubilee Plot. His accounts of the dynamite campaigns of the 1880s allow a proper appreciation of how dangerous it would have been for Parnell to be connected with such direct action. This helps the reader understand how a government set on derailing a parliamentary Home Rule movement would envisage the usefulness of terrorism as a weapon to achieve this.
There's so much here that it's easy to get lost, but Campbell provides help in the form of a very useful section of thumbnail biographies of the significant characters. This proves very useful when, for instance, you get confused between 'Casey' and 'Cassidy', or 'Davitt' and 'Devoy'. The timeline also helps you keep up. Moreover, the subdivision of the chapters into sections headed with places and dates keeps the narrative clear. And the style is compelling, especially with the portrayal at the beginning of the haunted James Monro and his secret shame, as well as the evocation of danger.
The book then is a very useful explanation of one of the more audacious of Victorian black ops, but it's also a very enjoyable read. It's almost like an espionage thriller, except that as so often, the truth is far more outlandish than a writer of fiction could hope would be swallowed by even the most sympathetic reader.
Campbell traces Irish separatism from the plans for armed uprising in the aftermath of the American Civil War, all the way through to the political impact of the Jubilee Plot. His accounts of the dynamite campaigns of the 1880s allow a proper appreciation of how dangerous it would have been for Parnell to be connected with such direct action. This helps the reader understand how a government set on derailing a parliamentary Home Rule movement would envisage the usefulness of terrorism as a weapon to achieve this.
There's so much here that it's easy to get lost, but Campbell provides help in the form of a very useful section of thumbnail biographies of the significant characters. This proves very useful when, for instance, you get confused between 'Casey' and 'Cassidy', or 'Davitt' and 'Devoy'. The timeline also helps you keep up. Moreover, the subdivision of the chapters into sections headed with places and dates keeps the narrative clear. And the style is compelling, especially with the portrayal at the beginning of the haunted James Monro and his secret shame, as well as the evocation of danger.
The book then is a very useful explanation of one of the more audacious of Victorian black ops, but it's also a very enjoyable read. It's almost like an espionage thriller, except that as so often, the truth is far more outlandish than a writer of fiction could hope would be swallowed by even the most sympathetic reader.
March 6, 2013
An excellent book on a gripping subject. Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister at the time of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 is at the head of a conspiracy to assassinate the Queen - or at the very least, his minions in Scotland Yard and the Home and Foreign Offices are financing Irish revolutionaries who are pledged ti kill her. It's all stirring stuff, and true!
Mr Campbell makes good use of his sources as the plot weaves from America to France, to Westminster Abbey on the fateful day and to the aftermath of dynamite cache discovery and show trials.
It's a great read, with my only proviso being the very depth of research displayed might leave a reader not as enthralled by the period as I am thinking the book a little over-detailed. I reveled in the details!
I re-mine much of the same materials in my fictional account of The Jubilee Plot, but I shamelessly add Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and young Winston Churchill into the mix.
Fenian Fire is a must-read for anyone interested in Anglo-Irish relations and the Victorian police force's response to the Fenian threat against the Queen, her ministers and, curiously, the bridges of London.
Mr Campbell makes good use of his sources as the plot weaves from America to France, to Westminster Abbey on the fateful day and to the aftermath of dynamite cache discovery and show trials.
It's a great read, with my only proviso being the very depth of research displayed might leave a reader not as enthralled by the period as I am thinking the book a little over-detailed. I reveled in the details!
I re-mine much of the same materials in my fictional account of The Jubilee Plot, but I shamelessly add Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and young Winston Churchill into the mix.
Fenian Fire is a must-read for anyone interested in Anglo-Irish relations and the Victorian police force's response to the Fenian threat against the Queen, her ministers and, curiously, the bridges of London.
December 25, 2023
This book discusses an assassination plot directed at Queen Victoria. In particular, this book discusses the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish Republican organization, and their attempts to murder the Queen and other members of British government. They were ultimately unsuccessful as their plot was foiled, in large part thanks to Scotland Yard. Despite the fact that the book is supposed to be staunchly about the assassination plots against Queen Victoria, it takes a digression into the issue of Irish sovereignty. That topic in itself is very interesting to me, so I was pleased with the book either way. This is just a warning that the title and content of the book is slightly misleading because it does tend to veer off course.
Throughout the centuries, there have been countless assassinations of political figures and other rivals. High profile people have always been targets for these types of plots, hence why so many have bodyguards and take other security measures. I'm not really sure why it shocked me that Queen Victoria would be on someone's list to assassinate, but it did anyway. I thought this book was extremely interesting since the concept of assassinating Queen Victoria, of all people, blew my little mind. It was a really educational book, and a pretty short read as well. If you are interested in members of royal families, or British/European history, this might be a great one for you to pick up. I bought this book ages ago online and it has been sitting on my unread shelf for months. I have to admit that it was not the most amazing book that I have read all year, but it certainly was not the worst.
Throughout the centuries, there have been countless assassinations of political figures and other rivals. High profile people have always been targets for these types of plots, hence why so many have bodyguards and take other security measures. I'm not really sure why it shocked me that Queen Victoria would be on someone's list to assassinate, but it did anyway. I thought this book was extremely interesting since the concept of assassinating Queen Victoria, of all people, blew my little mind. It was a really educational book, and a pretty short read as well. If you are interested in members of royal families, or British/European history, this might be a great one for you to pick up. I bought this book ages ago online and it has been sitting on my unread shelf for months. I have to admit that it was not the most amazing book that I have read all year, but it certainly was not the worst.
April 9, 2009
Overly detailed but still interesting and sometimes exciting history of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the formation of the Irish Republican Army and the British political police, the so called "Special Branch" which were initially the "Special (Irish) Branch.
Reading "Fenian Fire" shows just how little the attitudes of the English establishment regarding the Irish and Roman Catholics have changed in the past 120 years.
Lots of minutiae regarding raising money in America, shadowing Irish activists in Paris and the internal politics of the Metropolitan Police at the end of the nineteenth century but also some very intriguing revelations on how Scotland Yard had not only penetrated the Irish Repubican movement at the top. The British police were responsible, at least in part, for some of the deaths caused by bombing campaigns in England.
The invention and widespread availability of dynamite, a stable high explosive that could be easily transported and hidden, changed the rules. An example of the eagerness with which the Irish Republicans adopted the new bomb making material was the title of one of their leading newspapers in the United States: The Irish Liberator and Dynamite Times which says a lot in itself.
Reading "Fenian Fire" shows just how little the attitudes of the English establishment regarding the Irish and Roman Catholics have changed in the past 120 years.
Lots of minutiae regarding raising money in America, shadowing Irish activists in Paris and the internal politics of the Metropolitan Police at the end of the nineteenth century but also some very intriguing revelations on how Scotland Yard had not only penetrated the Irish Repubican movement at the top. The British police were responsible, at least in part, for some of the deaths caused by bombing campaigns in England.
The invention and widespread availability of dynamite, a stable high explosive that could be easily transported and hidden, changed the rules. An example of the eagerness with which the Irish Republicans adopted the new bomb making material was the title of one of their leading newspapers in the United States: The Irish Liberator and Dynamite Times which says a lot in itself.
April 2, 2012
I tried to read it all, but it's just so thorough and detailed. Unfortunately, my command of neither English nor Irish history/government is not strong enough to get all the fine points without laborious research for almost every paragraph. Obviously, this was a major incident and I would love to know more. Political conspiracy is not a new thing and has a long history even in the British Isles.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews