The Attempted Assassination of Benito Mussolini

Merrion Square North in Dublin

Of course, Oscar Wilde wasn’t the only famous resident of Merrion Square. The area has had many notable residents that include politicians, surgeons, judges, physicians, physicists, poets, playwrights, authors and fashion designers. It seems that the little plaque I found, placed by the Dublin Tourism office, wasn’t so rare after all. In fact, they appear quite regularly on the Georgian houses that surround the entire area, and it’s an impressive list. At various times, residents of Merrion Square have included Oscar Wilde, Sybil Connolly, Louise Kennedy, Sheridan Le Fanu, Daniel O’Connell, George Russell, William Yeats and Violet Gibson. Goodness me, what a street!

So, just who is Violet Gibson? Well, she is the lady who attempted to assassinate Italy’s Benito Mussolini in Rome on the 7th April, 1926. According to reports, having delivered a speech to the International Congress of Surgeons, Mussolini stepped outside into the fresh spring air where he was greeted by a large crowd, eager to catch a glimpse of the Italian Prime Minister. As he did so, Irish-born Violet pushed her way through the crowd, a revolver disguised in her black shawl. Then, as Mussolini walked into the crowd, saluting to his adoring supporters, he turned to his right to address a group of young men chanting his name. Suddenly, two gunshots rang out into the air and blood appeared on Mussolini’s face. A bullet having scraped his nose. As Violet went to fire a third time, the gun jammed, giving onlookers a chance to wrestle her to the ground before police arrived and took her into custody. In the preceding days and years the reason for the attempted assassination never became fully clear. Violet herself first claimed that she never shot him at all, then she did it for religious reasons and finally saying she didn’t know why she shot him. Eventually, Violet was deported back to England where she was declared insane and forced to live in an institution until her death in 1956. Whereas Mussolini lived for another 19 years, before he was forced to flee Italy in the closing months of World War II when he was shot and killed crossing the border into Switzerland.