The Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham
One fateful day in August 1628, The first Duke of Buckingham was assassinated at the Greyhound Inn close to the Cathedral. The Buckingham Memorial now stands proudly in the Cathedral’s St Thomas’s Chapel for all to see to this day.
The Buckingham Memorial in its present day position. (click for larger image)
George Villiers, Ist Duke of Buckingham, was born in 1592, the second son of Sir George Villiers of Brooksby, Leicester. In 1614, George was brought to the notice of James I (VI of Scotland), replacing the Earl of Somerset as ‘favourite’ Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Offices and lands were heaped on him: Knight, Viscount in 1616, Earl in 1618, Lord High Admiral of the Fleet and finally Duke. From a threadbare hanger-on at Court, ‘Steenie’ (nicknamed after St Stephen, who was said to have had ‘the face of an angel’) became the second wealthiest noble in England, a statesman and a celebrity.
Buckingham was entrusted with negotiating the marriage of the heir to the English throne, the future Charles I, with the Infanta of Spain. Buckingham persuaded Charles to go with him to Madrid - incognito - to pursue his suit in person. Such behaviour, together with Buckingham’s arrogance, shocked the Spanish Court. Their mission failed. Nevertheless, Buckingham was created Warden of the Cinque Ports. He then proceeded to negotiate, successfully, Charles’s marriage to Princess Henrietta Maria of France.
Despite Buckingham’s naval reforms, the expedition against Cadiz in 1625 was a disaster. The 1627 expedition he commanded to relieve the Huguenots in La Rochelle also failed and, despite his bravery, he became unpopular with officers and troops. In 1628, he came to Portsmouth with King Charles to organise a further expedition to France. Realising the potential danger in the town from ill-disciplined men, many of them sick or wounded in the earlier expeditions, he left the king at Southwick Priory.
Despite warnings, Buckingham refused to wear a protective coat of mail. Trouble began when a mob of 300 sailors surrounded his coach, demanding their pay and the release of a prisoner – who was released, but later re-arrested. Violence erupted again. The men were eventually driven back to their ships by the Duke and his men, but many sailors were killed in this incident.
Meanwhile, John Felton - an embittered army lieutenant - plotted to kill Buckingham, to benefit the country. Poor and depressed, with his requests for promotion refused and arrears of pay still outstanding, Felton borrowed money from his mother, bought a dagger-knife at Tower Hill, then rode to Portsmouth, arriving on August 23. He left his horse at the Landport Gate and made his way to No. 11, High Street where he stabbed Buckingham in a crowded room - without anyone seeing who did it. Felton then walked into the kitchen and confessed. He was tried in London, pleaded guilty, and was hanged at Tyburn on November 28th. His body was removed to Portsmouth where it hung in chains on a gibbet – at a spot near the present Hovercraft terminal - as a warning to others.
The Duke’s body was buried with pomp and ceremony in Westminster Abbey, where a huge memorial was later erected. The baroque monument in Portsmouth Cathedral, attributed to Nicholas Stone, was erected by the Countess of Denbigh, the Duke’s sister.
Constructed in black and white marble in 1631, it was placed in the centre of the east wall of St Thomas’s parish church, flanked by memorials of other prominent men - the focal point of worship, a backdrop to the High Altar, where the empty Resurrection Cross now hangs. As the inscription states, ‘His bowels, together with hers, are buried here’; she kept his, until, on her death, their bowels were intermingled and buried in the church.
The memorial was moved to its present position in the south chancel aisle in 1843. Post-Civil War, Puritan Republic, Restoration of the Monarchy, Glorious Revolution, Georgian Britain: by Victorian times, priorities had changed - as the visual evidence illustrates.