Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 22, 2024

Edward Oxford (1822–1900) was an English man who made an assassination attempt on Queen Victoria in 1840. After losing a series of jobs in pubs due to erratic and violent behaviour, he bought two pistols and fired twice at the queen and her husband, Prince Albert; neither shot hit anyone. Charged with high treason, he was found by a jury to be not guilty by reason of insanity, and was detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital and Broadmoor Hospital. Offered exile in 1867, he settled in Melbourne, Australia, under a new name. He worked as a decorator, married and became a respected figure at his local church. He began writing stories for The Argus on the seedier aspects of Melbourne, and later published a book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life. Oxford's trial and the 1843 trial of Daniel M'Naghten, who killed civil servant Edward Drummond, prompted the judiciary to frame the M'Naghten rules on instructions to be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.