Fenian Fire: The British Government Plot to Assassinate Queen Victoria [Paperback]

Christy Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

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 nationalists: the entire conspiracy was masterminded for its own reasons by a clandestine British agency reporting directly to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A true-life Day of the Jackal…” -- Kirkus Reviews

“Messy, complex, and thoroughly intriguing: Campbell spins it with gusto.” -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Christy Campbell was a publisher's editor before turning freelance writer. He has written for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990 when he joined as Defence Correspondent covering the Gulf War. He has made a speciality of 'forensic historical investigations' and produced a series of special supplements for the Sunday Telegraph on 20th-century history. He has written a number of non-fiction books on World War II and broadcast on radio and television, and is the author of The Maharajah's Box published HarperCollins.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007104820
• ISBN-13: 978-0007104826
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,320,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dirty War, August 4, 2003

By 

John J. Ross (Chestnut Hill, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fenian Fire (Hardcover)

The world's only global superpower is faced with terrorists in its greatest city, trying to destroy its major landmarks. These foreigners were born in one nation, a backward, oppressed land with an alien religion which, however, is of great geographic and strategic importance to the superpower. They are financed from another country, an immensely wealthy, so-called ally and friend of the superpower. To defeat these desperate men and their heinous ends, the superpower must engage them on their own terms, and fight a dirty war, which will prove corrosive to freedom and democracy at home, and only increase the hatred of the foreign land.

The United States in 2001? Er, no, it's Great Britain in the 1880s, faced with Irish-American dynamiters who attacked Scotland Yard, the House of Commons, and, in spectacularly unsuccessful fashion, London Bridge. The British response to this threat is like John LeCarre rewritten by Flann O'Brien. The chief counter-terrorist securocrat in Gladstone's Liberal government, Jenkinson, is a convinced Home Ruler. With the aide of his double agents and informers within the Irish-American organizations, he sets a phony bomb plot to assassinate Queen Victoria in motion. By demonstrating the danger of Irish extremism, he hopes to convince British opinion of the need to conciliate moderate Irish nationalists with Home Rule. However, Gladstone's government falls, and Lord Salisbury's Tories take over. Vehemently opposed to Home Rule, Salisbury sees an opportunity to use the phony bomb plot to discredit Parnell's party, by linking Irish terrorists with Irish parlimentarians. Meanwhile, another Irish-American faction in Chicago decides to set up its own Jubilee plot, this time for real...

Fenian Fire is an engaging and original history which (quite deliberately) reads like a thriller. I found it fascinating stuff, but like the spymasters and their convoluted and perplexing plot(s), the narrative occasionally threatens to run out of control.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Special Branch duplicity, August 26, 2010

By 

Edward Waffle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fenian Fire: The British Government Plot to Assassinate Queen Victoria (Paperback)

There were seven 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. Using declassified Foreign Office secret files, the author discloses the secret at the heart of the British counter-intelligence operation against militant Irish nationalists: the entire conspiracy was masterminded for its own reasons by a clandestine British agency reporting directly to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fenian's Fire meets Tom Clancy, August 25, 2003

By 

"lindawhitford" (North Ryde, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fenian Fire (Hardcover)

I had no idea that Queen Victoria had been the subject of a serious assassination plot. Sure she had had potshots taken at her but this was SERIOUS. The Fenians (Irish) were out to get her - or were they? In a style reminiscent of Tom Clancy, Christy Campbell reveals the characters and plot. A criticism of the book is that the story is not linear and jumps around. The historical characters are also brought in at different times to suit the author and do not come into the story in a logical fashion. Or not to me anyway.