Violet Gibson

Gibson was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1876. Her father was an Irish lawyer and politician, Edward Gibson, who was created Baron Ashbourne in 1886. Her mother, Frances, was a Christian Scientist.[1] Violet experimented with theosophy before becoming a Roman Catholic in 1902.[2]

On 7 April 1926, Gibson shot Mussolini, Italy's Fascist leader, as he walked among the crowd in the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome after leaving an assembly of the International Congress of Surgeons, to whom he had delivered a speech on the wonders of modern medicine.[2][3] Gibson had armed herself with a rock to break Mussolini's car window if necessary, and a Modèle 1892 revolver disguised in a black shawl.[4] She fired once, but Mussolini moved his head at that moment and the shot hit his nose; she tried again, but the gun misfired.[2] Mussolini's son, in his memoir, gives an alternative account, recounting that Gibson fired twice, once missing and once grazing Mussolini's nose^[5]:110 Gibson was almost lynched on the spot by an angry mob, but police intervened and took her away for questioning. Mussolini was wounded only slightly, dismissing his injury as "a mere trifle", and after his nose was bandaged he continued his parade on the Capitoline.[2]

At the time of the assassination attempt she was almost fifty years old and did not explain her reasons for trying to assassinate Mussolini. It has been theorised that Gibson was insane at the time of the attack, and the idea of assassinating Mussolini was hers and that she worked alone. She was later deported to Britain after being released without charge at the request of Mussolini,[6] an act for which he received the thanks of the British government.^[5]:110 She spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum, St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton.[7] She is buried in Kingsthorpe Cemetery, Northampton.

Her gravestone in Kingsthorpe Cemetery

• Ferri, Enrico; Cassola, Mary Flint (1928). "A Character Study and Life History of Violet Gibson Who Attempted the Life of Benito Mussolini on 7 April 1926". Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. 19 (2): 211–219. doi:10.2307/1134640. JSTOR 1134640.
• "The Woman Who Shot Mussolini", telegraph.co.uk
• "The Woman Who Shot Mussolini", guardian.co.uk
• "The Woman Who Shot Mussolini", bbc.co.uk
• "The Irishwoman Who Shot Mussolini", rte.ie, 21 June 2014

• Saunders, Frances Stonor The Woman Who Shot Mussolini. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and, 2010.

• Lisa O'Neill's song Violet Gibson celebrates her. It is featured on O'Neill's album Heard a Long Song Gone
• Violet Gibson's story is the subject of Alice Barry's play Violet Gibson: The Woman Who Shot Mussolini