Mysterious Slayings & Crimes Of The Victorian Era

Khalid Elhassan - August 15, 2023

Forgotten Anglo-Zanzibar War

In the Victorian era, the Sultanate of Zanzibar in what is now Tanzania consisted of the islands of Zanzibar off the East African coast, and the mainland across the water from them. In 1890, the British and Germans divided Zanzibar amongst themselves: Germany got the mainland, while the British got the islands. That same year, Zanzibar’s sultan accepted a British protectorate. Its terms included the requirement that his successors had to be preapproved by the British. When the Sultan died in 1893, the British used that provision to install a puppet replacement, Hamad bin Thawani. He ruled for three years, then died suddenly shortly before noon on August 25^th, 1896. It was suspected that his twenty-nine-year-old nephew Khalid bin Bargash had poisoned him.

Khalid immediately moved into the palace in Zanzibar Town, and without British approval as required by the terms of the protectorate treaty, declared himself sultan. The British preferred a more pliant successor, Hamoud bin Muhammad. So they rushed three cruisers, two gunboats, 150 marines and 900 African soldiers to Zanzibar Town. They gave Khalid an ultimatum to vacate the palace by 9 AM, August 27^th, or else. He refused, gathered a force of about 2800 men, and barricaded himself in the palace. When the ultimatum expired, the British ships were ordered to open fire, and they commenced a bombardment at 9:02 AM.

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The Victorian Era Witnessed History’s Shortest War

By 9:40 AM, the palace and the royal harem next door were on fire, the sultan’s flag had been cut down, and the gunfire ceased. A journalist reported that the sultan had “fled at the first shot with all the leading Arabs, who left their slaves and followers to carry on the fighting“. Others, however, stated that he stuck around for a bit longer. However long he stayed, the sultan was not in the palace when the British reached it shortly after the bombardment stopped. Khalid, with dozens of his followers, fled to the German consulate, where he sought refuge. By that afternoon, the British had installed their favorite, Hamoud bin Muhammad, as sultan in his place.

The war had lasted roughly thirty eight minutes, during which time the British fired about 500 artillery shells, 4100 machinegun rounds, and 1000 rifle bullets. Zanzibaris losses were around 500 men and women killed or wounded, while British casualties consisted of a single petty officer, who was injured aboard a warship. The British sought Khalid’s extradition, but the Germans granted him asylum and transported him to German East Africa. He fell into British hands during World War I’s East Africa Campaign, and was exiled to the Seychelles and then Saint Helena. He was eventually released, and returned to East Africa, where he died in 1927.

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The Victorian Era’s Revolutionary Changes

Just like the rapid pace of change in our world today bewilders many, the Victorian era witnessed massive and revolutionary changes, not just in Britain, but all over the world. Chief among those changes was the introduction of electricity into everyday life. Across the Pond from Britain, railroads knitted America together, the importance of factories, mining, and finance increased by orders of magnitude, immigrants arrived by the tens of millions, and cities and homes began to be lit and powered by electricity.

Electricity had been around for some time. However, it took Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943), a Serb inventor who arrived in America with four cents in his pocket, to make the things that made electricity a part of everyday life. Among other things, he invented fluorescent lights, electric generators, the FM radio, spark plugs, remote controls, robots, and the Tesla Coil that is used to transmit radio and TV broadcasts. Shortly after Tesla arrived in the US, Thomas Edison hired the brilliant but naïve new immigrant to redesign his electrical generators and perfect his light bulb.

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A Great Inventor Screwed Over by Another Inventor

Thomas Edison promised Tesla $50,000 if he succeeded in his assigned, but he broke his promise. Tesla did what Edison had asked of him. After he perfected the light bulb and redesigned the generators, Tesla asked for what he had been promised. Edison laughed it off and said: “Tesla, you just don’t understand our American humor. When you become a full-fledged American, you will appreciate an American joke“. Understandably upset, Nikola Tesla took his talents to Edison’s greatest rival, George Westinghouse.

Nowadays, alternating current (AC) lights up our homes and workplaces, and powers up our appliances through wall sockets. By contrast, direct current (DC) is relegated mostly to batteries. In the Victorian era, however, the issue was undecided, and powerful interests fiercely competed to decide whether AC or DC would dominate the world. Alternating current was championed by George Westinghouse, who pushed AC as the best means to bring electricity to the masses. On direct current’s side was Thomas Edison. There was serious money at stake, and Edison had cause to regret screwing his former employee over.

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The Victorian Prime Minister Who Died While Getting It on With a Maid

Henry John Templeton (1784 – 1865) Lord Palmerston, formally the 3^rd Viscount Palmerston, dominated the Victorian era’s foreign policy from 1830 to 1865, when Britain stood at the height of her power. He served as Secretary at War from 1809 to 1828, as Foreign Secretary from 1830 to 1841 and again from 1846 to 1851, and twice as Prime Minister, from 1855 to 1858, and again from 1859 to 1865. In his private life, he seems to have been a randy old goat who tried to get it on whenever and wherever he could, with eventually fatal consequences.

Lord Palmerston is the only British Prime Minister to have ever died in office, and oh what a death it was. On October 18^th, 1865, the eighty-year-old Prime Minister, who enjoyed robust health well past his biblical three score and ten, reportedly was getting it on with one of his maids on a billiard table. He seems to have overexerted himself, which led to his demise in the midst of his passionate endeavors, just two days short of his eighty first birthday.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

BBC – Story of Boy Jones Who Stole Queen Victoria’s Underwear

Bondeson, Jan – Queen Victoria’s Stalker: The Strange Story of the Boy Jones (2012)

British Battles – Battle of Kabul and the Retreat to Gandamak

Canadian Encyclopedia – The 1885 Montreal Smallpox Epidemic

Carlson, W. Bernard – Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (2013)

Cheney, Margaret – Tesla: Man Out of Time (2011)

Conversation, The, October 4^th, 2020 – Covid-19 Anti-Vaxxers Use the Same Arguments From 135 Years Ago

Courier Evening Telegraph, November 15^th, 2021 – Love and Arsenic: The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith

Culture Trip – The Story Behind London’s Notorious Girl Gang, the Forty Elephants

Daily Best – What the Hell Has Hollywood Got Against Nikola Tesla?