William Vial b. c.1821

  • Artist (Draughtsman)
coach-builder, who may have sketched the scene where he intervened in the attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh at Clontarf Beach, Sydney on 12 March 1868. However, no such sketch has been found or recorded as having been made.
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sketcher(?) and coach-builder, achieved a certain fame (and a gold watch from royalty) when he pinioned the arms of James O’Farrell, would-be assassin of the Duke of Edinburgh, at Clontarf Beach, Sydney on 12 March 1868 and received a shot through the foot. Vial, whose coach-building business in Castlereagh Street had supplied the official carriage used by the duke during his visit to Sydney, wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald on 26 March to complain that the illustration of this dramatic event by E. Montagu Scott in the Illustrated Sydney News the previous day was 'very far from correct, and … I do not wish that that illustration should go Home and be considered a correct representation … [Therefore] I purpose preparing a correct sketch of the unfortunate scene’.

Scott’s view is still used by historians to illustrate the incident. If Vial’s eventuated, it was never noticed.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011

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References [<ExternalResource: (1894), Australasian Coachbuilder and Wheelwright, 5/3.>, <ExternalResource: (1868), Illustrated Sydney News, 03-25.>, <ExternalResource: (1868), Illustrated Sydney News, 04-20.>, <ExternalResource: (1906), Australasian Coachbuilder and Wheelwright 17/6, 09-15.>]