A 'Paris Outrage' of 1905 – the Local Connection Cedric Appleby. On the 31st May 1905 a Cornishman by the name of Benjamin Harvey was in Paris.

At the time, King Alfonso XIII of Spain was making a state visit to the French capital, and to the French president of the day, Emile Francois Loubet.

‘Alfonso XIII, con uniforme de capitán general de Artillería’, Víctor Morelli Sánchez-Gil / Public domain

As the midnight hour passed, the two rulers - King Alfonso and President Loubet - were in a carriage returning late from the opera. A bomb was thrown injuring some of the soldiers guarding the two rulers, both of whom were unharmed. The 'London Illustrated News' (10th June 1905) shows a picture of the police at the scene of the attempted assassination and a horse lying on its side. All but one of those implicated in the assassination attempt were Spanish. The exception was a Cornishman: Benjamin Harvey.


Later Harvey was one of those charged with the attempted murder of the King of Spain, the President of France and the soldiers of their bodyguard. The story was covered by the London 'Times'; the Penzance 'Evening Tidings' (the evening version of the 'Cornish Telegraph') and 'Cornishman'; and French newspapers. It is a fascinating tale - and reveals that the problems of identifying, and convicting, those suspected of carrying out violent acts are not new.


Harvey is a very common surname in the Paul and Mousehole area and it is difficult to establish the identity of the Cornishman suspected of being involved in the plot. But from newspapers we can see the story - as it concerns Harvey - unfold.

The 'Times' (1st June 1905) stated that the outrage happened at 12 30 am as Alfonso and Loubet were passing the Louvre on their way back from the opera. A loud report was heard, and a member of the Republican Guard was thrown from his horse. A lady told police that she had seen three persons lighting a bomb under the gate of the Louvre. One of them had stepped forward to throw the 'infernal machine' (a common phrase of the time for an explosive device) at the royal carriage. This man - dressed in workman's clothes - had been arrested, and refused to give his name.

A second report stated that the attempt was made slightly earlier at 12 15 am.


The next day, the 'Times' (2nd June) identified the arrested men as Vallina, Navarro, Palacios (named in the 'Cornishman' as 'Pallano') - and Harvey, an Englishman. On the third day (3rd June) - a Saturday - the same newspaper pointed out that the principal 'anarchist' suspect was a Spaniard named Ferras, 25 years old, and that a search was being made for him. Ferras was later said to have died in Barcelona in August 1903, and it was later believed that a former friend had stolen his documents - and his identity.

Back in West Cornwall the following Tuesday, the 'Evening Tidings' (8th June) had taken up the story – and, in particular, taken an interest in Harvey. It reported that Harvey had declared before the examining magistrate that he was Cornish by birth. He had been intended for Holy Orders but subsequently began to study natural science. Harvey said that he had been living in France (or "the Continent generally") since 1901, and earned his living by giving English lessons. He denied being an anarchist and said he had never taken part in an anarchist meeting.


Monsieur Leydet, the examining magistrate, said that a search of Harvey's house had revealed plans for an 'infernal machine' and that he also had a link with anarchists in Barcelona who had been arrested at the time of Alfonso's visit to Paris. Harvey replied that plans and certain formulae were included in his studies. He claimed that the prisoners Pallerno and Navarro were little known to him although they had been introduced.

Harvey was identified as a Paul man who had left for the Continent some years previously. His age was given as 40, though some accounts give it as 41. He had taken part in the procession at the opening of Truro Cathedral. At that time he had been associated with St. John's Church, Truro where he was training for the Anglican ministry. He had then gone up to Oxford, but whether he attended the university or Culham College, which was a training college for teachers which his brother had attended, is not known for certain. Turned down for the ministry, he had later renounced the Church.


The French press later described the group of conspirators as not looking very sinister: "one would expect to find them seated in a Bohemian coffee shop rather in a dock of assassins". Harvey was later described in 'Le Figaro' (28th November 1905) as "an old greying student with pretty eyes, fine head, white tipped beard", who "seems more like a natural science professor than a bomb maker".


Meanwhile the 'Cornishman' (10th June) and the 'Evening Tidings' (15th June) had provided more details on Harvey. He had already been arrested before the arrival of Alfonso in Paris, and incriminating documents had been found in his house at 171 Rue Saint Jacques when the arrest took place. Detectives had previously followed him while in the company of other anarchists. All night he had walked all over Paris in order to get rid of a package. He had proceeded to the Rue de la Doucane where he threw the package into a sewer. Harvey had admitted that he was an anarchist, and on being asked what the package contained had answered "a bottle". A search the next day had found nothing.

In the course of examination by the judge investigating the May 31st assassination attempt, Harvey was declared to be a 'scientist,' who 'knew nothing of ballistics.' He denied that the attempt had been pre-arranged. It was reported from Paris (Evening Tidings 17th June; 'Cornishman' 22nd June) that:

"Harvey said that the drawing seized in his room was not an infernal machine but a compressing machine which he had invented. The chemical formulae were notes copied from a volume of Bertholet on nitro-glycerine and other explosives. He never intended making bombs. He admitted that he was an advocate of liberty and not a propogandist. He knew… other anarchists, but he never engaged in mutual anarchism."


In a further examination Harvey denied that a drawing in his possession was of an 'infernal machine', claiming that it was a compressing machine. The bombs which were found were not – it was claimed - for use in Paris but at San Sebastian, where the king was to return later. Harvey had made confessions to save his friends from arrest. The bottle he had been seen to carry on an earlier occasion was an empty one which he had taken from his home by mistake, and he had got rid of it at the corner of the Rue de la Douanne and the Rue de l'Entrepot, having crossed the Place de la Republique. He declared: "I am a Libertarian. I hold this from a theoretic point of view only. I have always opposed physical force propaganda" ( 'Evening Tidings' and 'Cornishman' 22nd June).


Another search of Harvey's house was later mentioned in the Cornish press. The four accused men had now been released from custody, "as a result of intervention by their political friends", and were awaiting deportation from French territory ('Evening Tidings' 8th July).


Leydet directed that the cases of the anarchists, including Harvey, should be submitted to the Chamber of Indictments. Harvey and Vallina were charged with an attempt to assassinate President Loubet, King Alfonso and the 18 soldiers forming the escort, of being the associates of criminals and of the manufacture and retention of explosives ('Evening Tidings' 21st June).


When Harvey and the other defendants came to trial in November 1905, it was stated that several Republican Guards and others had been wounded, two horses injured and the left side of the carriage riddled with the fragments of the bomb. The incident was alleged to have been organised by 'Ferras', who had since escaped (the real Ferras, according to an earlier report, having died some years before previously). Harvey's room was said to have "the appearance of a laboratory". Harvey, who spoke French "quite well", stated that he "had never manufactured explosives and that he never approved of violence in any form and that a change of dynasty would be injurious to Spain". ('Evening Tidings' 26th November).


At the resumption of the trial, the defence maintained that the present charges had been brought to please Spanish sentiment. Senor Leroux, a Spanish Deputy, severely criticised the conduct of the Spanish police and Spanish Magistrates and added that the Spanish newspapers all agreed that the trial was the result of a plot laid by the police. He explained that he had an intimate knowledge of the Spanish police and the crimes committed by them, and that they tortured their victims. He said that he could assert with some degree of probability - and without fear of mistake - that the Spanish police were responsible for the attempt on the life of King Alfonso XIII and President Loubet. This statement caused a great sensation in court. The judge interrupted and said that if he had known that the witness was to bring the Spanish police and even the Spanish government into evidence he would have stopped the witness from giving evidence ('Evening Tidings' 30th November). The prosecution maintained that Vallina and Harvey had manufactured explosives. Dr. Bertrand gave evidence in favour of Harvey, and explained that when Edward VII visited Paris, Harvey had said that he ought to be received with courtesy.


Harvey and others were cleared of attempting to kill King Alfonso XIII, the President of France and members of the bodyguard. ('Evening Tidings' 1st December, 'Cornishman' 6th December). Before the trial, however, the police had given all of them eight days to leave France in the event of them not being convicted.


Alfonso XIII survived five assassination attempts, including the throwing of a bomb at his wedding coach as it passed through Madrid in May 1906. Anarchists were extremely active during his reign. Unrest in Spain eventually forced him to flee to Rome in 1931 but he never formally abdicated.


Although the exact identification of Harvey remains uncertain, Mr Percy Harvey of Penzance has made an exhaustive study of possible contenders for the role of the Cornish anarchist and has come to the conclusion that there are two candidates. One is Richard Harvey, a printer's apprentice, presumably at Penzance, who would have been 24 in 1905; the other his elder brother, John Smith Harvey, who was described in the 1901 Census as being 'away'. Mr Harvey concludes that this John Smith Harvey was the most likely candidate. But there are uncertainties. One difficulty is that the press describes the mother as "aged". Sarah Harvey, the mother of John Smith Harvey, was 47 at the time of the Census of 1901. Would a woman of 51, even in 1905, be described as "aged"?


What would have been in the mind of Harvey, in the Paris of 1905? Anarchy is a misunderstood term, having very negative connotations. It is associated with a mindless urge to destroy for the sake of destruction, with no positive programme for the future. A state of anarchy is now taken to mean a state of chaos, of lawlessness, but this was not always the case. Anarchism grew out of a disillusionment with governing powers and became influential from the middle of the nineteenth century. There were anarchists such as Tolstoy who rejected violence and believed that the old order would be overthrown peacefully. Anarchists were utopian or idealistic in their concept of what should replace the existing order, but saw a world in which each person would live in peace and harmony without the authoritarian structures of the state.


From what Harvey said during his trial it may seem that he followed this more pacifist form of anarchism, although the evidence for this is questionable. He was a man of education who had travelled widely on the Continent and had even been to Palestine. His knowledge of languages and his several years of residence in Paris would have given him a deeper knowledge than most British young men of his time of political ideas held on the Continent. But a great deal depends on the closeness of his involvement with the group of Spanish anarchists from Barcelona who appeared in court with him.


By all accounts, the Harvey who was implicated in the assassination attempt was a man of education with political opinions sympathetic to or identical with the Spanish anarchists who were also charged. Barcelona, then as now, was a busy sea port and capital of Catalonia, and a centre of violent movements, rioting and strikes at this time. It was the city that would later defend Republicanism to the extent that it was the last to surrender to Franco in 1939. The violent form of anarchy had spread from Italy to Spain and was very evident in that country. The police were particularly brutal in Barcelona when dealing with any opposition, peaceful or otherwise. There were narrow streets where people lived in great poverty. Catalonian nationalism was rampant and there was a strong feeling against the monarchy. One could easily suppose that our Cornishman had sympathy with this group, but would this have led him to give invaluable help to those bent on killing this king?


There was strong disbelief among those who knew Harvey well, before he left Mousehole, that he could ever have been a man who acted violently. But much the same thing has been said about suicide bombers in our country who have taken many innocent lives. Whatever Harvey's involvement was - and I believe that he must have been involved and played a key part - the target was not the general public of Paris although innocent lives could have been destroyed in the attempt. At his trial he was excused as a man falling into "bad company", but it is impossible to judge him without knowing him.


Soon after being exiled from Spain in 1931, King Alfonso visited Cornwall. He travelled to Truro from Dartmouth taking lunch in the Red Lion Hotel and then travelled in a Rolls Royce to Penzance, then Newlyn and Paul Hill with the intention, it seems, of visiting the Logan Rock, and then going on to Land's End. He was accompanied by the Infanta Beatrice and Prince Juan. The car stopped briefly at the door of the Land's End Hotel but it appears that none of the party left the vehicle, and they departed very quickly back in the direction of Penzance ('Cornishman' 18th June 1931). Did the ex-king realise that a man once charged with aiding an assassination attempt on him lived just a few miles away from Newlyn?

Alfonso in London, 1932 (Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13726 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

What of Harvey himself? At the time of his trial the French newspaper Le Temps (28th November1905) stated that that Benjamin Bertrand Harvey was born on the 15th July 1865 in St. Paul, Cornwall (Mousehole is in Paul parish). There is no record of a Benjamin Harvey born on that date in that parish. After the trial he was forced to leave France as were the other conspirators. In Paris, although he was fluent in French and probably other European languages, he did not follow any profession but earned money as a teacher, giving private lessons. His death certificate names him as Benjamin Harvey (middle name Bertrand is not given) and the date and place of his death at the age of 82 was 6 Tolmer Square, London NW1 on the 3rd February 1942. His occupation is given as "formerly a schoolmaster." Tolmer Square is close to the British Museum and the British Library and, presumably, he carried on his studies in both places.


There is no record of him returning to Mousehole.


Many of the news items from the 'Cornishman' and 'Cornish Telegraph' can also be found online on the British Newspaper Archive website although often in slightly different editions to those cited in the text above:

Cornishman 15 6 1905 p 3 col 5

Cornish Telegraph 15 6 1905 p 3 col 5

Cornishman 22 6 1905 p 3 col 2; p 5 col 7

Cornish Telegraph 29 6 1905 p 6 col 3

Cornishman 13 7 905 p 4 col 8

Cornish Telegraph 13 7 1905 p 7 col 2

Cornishman 30 11 1905 p 4 col 4

Cornish Telegraph 30 11 1905 p 5 col 3

Cornishman 18 6 1931 p 32 col 3


The 'Times', 'Evening Tidings' and other newspapers mentioned are not available on line


My thanks to the staff of the Morrab Library who are as always very helpful and especially to Mr. Percy Harvey of Penzance. The latter is no relation to the "Harvey" of this account.


This is an expanded version of articles in the Journal of Cornwall Association of Local Historians Autumn 2006 & Spring 2008, and is used here by kind permission of CALH