Duelling
Duelling is in General Things.
On 07 Aug 1485 Alexander Stewart 1st Duke Albany (age 31) was killed in a duel with Louis XII King France (age 23), possibly at a tournament. His son John Stewart 2nd Duke Albany (age 1) succeeded 2nd Duke Albany.
Before 1603 Thomas Lucas (age 44) was exiled for duelling with a Mr Brooks. He was pardoned by King James I of England and Ireland and VI of Scotland (age 36) and returned to England in 1603.
On 01 Aug 1603 Matthew Browne (age 40) was killed in a duel with John Townshend (age 35) at Hounslow Heath [Map]. Matthew Browne (age 40) died the following day.
On 20 Apr 1608 John Egerton was killed in a duel by Edward Morgan (age 32).
On 08 Nov 1609 George Wharton (age 26) and James Stewart (age 24) were both killed in a duel with each other over a game of cards. They were buried together in the same grave in Islington, by the King's command on 10 Nov 1609.
In 1617 Arthur Wingfield was killed in a duel.
On 08 Feb 1625 Thomas Beaumont 1st Viscount of Swords (age 43) died from wounds received duelling. His son Sapcote Beaumont 2nd Viscount Beaumont of Swords (age 11) succeeded 2nd Viscount Beaumont of Swords, 2nd Baronet Beaumont of Cole Orton.
On 30 Apr 1636 Thomas Leventhorpe 2nd Baronet (age 43) was killed in a duel with Arthur Capell of Little Hadham (age 50). His son John Leventhorpe 3rd Baronet (age 6) succeeded 3rd Baronet Leventhorpe of Shingey Hall in Hertfordshire.
In 1640 Ralph Eure of Bishop Middleham (age 38) was killed in a duel.
On 13 May 1652 Henry Compton was killed in a duel with George Brydges 6th Baron Chandos (age 31) at Putney, Surrey [Map].
On 22 Aug 1661 Roger Grosvenor (age 33) was killed in a duel by his cousin Hugh Roberts.
Pepy's Diary. 06 Aug 1662. So to my Lord's; and he is also gone: this being a great day at the Council about some business at the Council before the King (age 32). Here I met with Mr. Pierce, the chyrurgeon, who told me how Mr. Edward Montagu (age 27) hath lately had a duell with Mr. Cholmely (age 30), that is first gentleman-usher to the Queen (age 23), and was a messenger from the King (age 32) to her in Portugall, and is a fine gentleman; but had received many affronts from Mr. Montagu (age 27), and some unkindness from my Lord, upon his score (for which I am sorry). He proved too hard for Montagu, and drove him so far backward that he fell into a ditch, and dropt his sword, but with honour would take no advantage over him; but did give him his life: and the world says Mr. Montagu (age 27) did carry himself very poorly in the business, and hath lost his honour for ever with all people in it, of which I am very glad, in hopes that it will humble him. I hear also that he hath sent to my Lord to borrow £400, giving his brother Harvey's' security for it, and that my Lord will lend it him, for which I am sorry.
Calendars. 18 Aug 1662. 59. -- to [Lord Conway]. Welcomes him to Dublin. Hopes he has received the tender of his brother Dering's service. The Doctors are both at Tunbridge, and are going to Italy. The writer's cousin, Hugh Cholmley (age 30), has fought a duel with Edward Montague (age 27), without harm, and Henry Jermyn (age 26) and Giles Rawlins against one of the Howards (age 31) and Lord Dillon's son; it was fought in St. James's Fields, Pall Mall, at 11am. Rawlins is slain, Jermyn (age 26) wounded, and the other two fled. The King intends to proclaim Tangiers a free port for five years. The London ministers who will not conform have parted from their congregations with great temper. Damaged.
Pepy's Diary. 19 Aug 1662. By and by to sit at the office; and Mr. Coventry (age 34) did tell us of the duell between Mr. Jermyn (age 26), nephew to my Lord St. Albans (age 57), and Colonel Giles Rawlins, the latter of whom is killed, and the first mortally wounded, as it is thought. They fought against Captain Thomas Howard (age 31), my Lord Carlisle's (age 33) brother, and another unknown; who, they say, had armour on that they could not be hurt, so that one of their swords went up to the hilt against it. They had horses ready, and are fled. But what is most strange, Howard sent one challenge, but they could not meet, and then another, and did meet yesterday at the old Pall Mall [Map] at St. James's, and would not to the last tell Jermyn what the quarrel was; nor do any body know. The Court is much concerned in this fray, and I am glad of it; hoping that it will cause some good laws against it.
In 1666 Robert Carnegie 3rd Earl Southesk (age 17) was imprisoned for wounding George Livingston 3rd Earl Linlithgow (age 49) in a duel.
Pepy's Diary. 31 Oct 1666. Out with Sir W. Batten (age 65) toward White Hall, being in pain in my cods by being squeezed the other night in a little coach when I carried Pierce and his wife and my people. But I hope I shall be soon well again. This day is a great day at the House, so little to do with the Duke of York (age 33), but soon parted. Coming out of the Court I met Colonell Atkins, who tells me the whole city rings to-day of Sir Jeremy Smith's killing of Holmes (age 44) in a duell, at which I was not much displeased, for I fear every day more and more mischief from the man, if he lives; but the thing is not true, for in my coach I did by and by meet Sir Jer. Smith going to Court.
Around 30 Jul 1667 Henry Belasyse (age 28) was killed in a duel following a drunken quarrel by his friend Thomas Porter over a trivial matter. The event was described by Samuel Pepys: Here Sir Philip Frowde, who sat next to me, did tell me how Sir H.Belasses is dead, and that the quarrel between him and Tom Porter, who is fled, did arise in the ridiculous fashion that I was first told it, which is a strange thing between two so good friends.
Pepy's Diary. 08 Aug 1667. Up, and all the morning at the office, where busy, and at noon home to dinner, where Creed dined with us, who tells me that Sir Henry Bellasses (deceased) is dead of the duell he fought about ten days ago, with Tom Porter; and it is pretty to see how the world talk of them as a couple of fools, that killed one another out of love.
On 16 Jan 1668 George Villiers 2nd Duke of Buckingham (age 39) fought a duel at Barn Elms with Francis Talbot 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 45) with whose wife Anna Maria Brudenell Countess Shrewsbury and Waterford (age 25) he was conducting a relationship. Francis Talbot 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 45) was fatally wounded dying two months later. Following the duel George Villiers 2nd Duke of Buckingham (age 39) commenced living with Shrewsbury's wife Anne Maria (age 25). His wife Mary Fairfax Duchess Buckingham (age 29) returned to live with her parents.
Admiral Robert Holmes (age 46) and Jenkins acted as seconds to George Villiers 2nd Duke of Buckingham (age 39). Jenkins was killed.
John Talbot of Lacock (age 37) and Bernard Howard (age 27) acted as seconds to Francis Talbot 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 45). Note. Bernard Howard a guess based on name and age.
On 16 Mar 1668 Francis Talbot 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 45) died from wounds received duelling. He was buried at Albrighton, Shropshire. His son Charles Talbot 1st Duke Shrewsbury (age 7) succeeded 12th Earl of Shrewsbury, 12th Earl Waterford.
Pepy's Diary. 01 Mar 1669. Up, and to White Hall to the Committee of Tangier, but it did not meet. But here I do hear first that my Lady Paulina Montagu (deceased) did die yesterday; at which I went to my Lord's lodgings, but he is shut up with sorrow, and so not to be spoken with: and therefore I returned, and to Westminster Hall [Map], where I have not been, I think, in some months. And here the Hall was very full, the King (age 38) having, by Commission to some Lords this day, prorogued the Parliament till the 19th of October next: at which I am glad, hoping to have time to go over to France this year. But I was most of all surprised this morning by my Lord Bellassis (age 54), who, by appointment, met me at Auditor Wood's, at the Temple [Map], and tells me of a duell designed between the Duke of Buckingham (age 41) and my Lord Halifax (age 35), or Sir W. Coventry (age 41); the challenge being carried by Harry Saville (age 27), but prevented by my Lord Arlington (age 51), and the King (age 38) told of it; and this was all the discourse at Court this day. But I, meeting Sir W. Coventry (age 41) in the Duke of York's (age 35) chamber, he would not own it to me, but told me that he was a man of too much peace to meddle with fighting, and so it rested: but the talk is full in the town of the business.
In 1677 Charles Mohun 3rd Baron Mohun Okehampton (age 32) was killed in a duel. In 1677 His son Charles Mohun 4th Baron Mohun Okehampton (age 2) succeeded 4th Baron Mohun Okehampton, 5th Baronet Mohun of Boconnoc in Cornwall.
In 1681 William Carnegie (age 19) was killed in a duel with William Tollemache (age 32) at Paris [Map].
On 06 Jul 1685 Sharington Talbot (age 29) was killed in a duel with Captain Love over whose troops fought better at the Battle of Sedgemoor which had been fought earlier the same day.
In 1686 John Talbot (age 21) was killed in a duel by Henry Fitzroy 1st Duke Grafton (age 22).
On 20 Mar 1688 George Killigrew (age 24) was killed in a duel or a tavern brawl.
On 19 Dec 1688 Captain Walter Littleton was killed in a duel by Captain Charles Adderley, a protestant officer of the Royal Horse Guards.
On 04 Feb 1692 Bourchier Wrey 4th Baronet (age 39) duelled with Thomas Bulkeley (age 59) in which of the six men engaged as principals and seconds five were MPs; two of the seconds were slightly wounded at Hyde Park [Map]. Bourchier Wrey 4th Baronet (age 39) was seriously injured.
On 06 Oct 1692 Captain Philip Lawson was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law Charles Knollys 4th Earl Banbury (age 30). The House of Lords decided that he was not a Peer (there was doubt over the paternity of his father), and he pleaded in the King's Bench. The second husband his wife Anna Maria Knollys (age 36) had lost to dueling.
On 09 Apr 1694 Southampton Square was the location of a duel between 23-year-old Scottish economist and financier John Law and Edward 'Beau' Wilson. Law killed Wilton with a single pass and thrust of his sword. Law would be convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but would escape his condemned cell and go on to become the founder of the Mississippi Company and the de facto prime minister of France.
In May 1694 Bourchier Wrey 4th Baronet (age 41) duelled with James Praed (age 39). He was run through the body, Praed being only hurt slightly in the face at Falmouth, Cornwall.
On 12 Apr 1696 Henry Bourchier Fane (age 27) was killed in a duel with Elizeus Burges at Leicester Fields Leicester Square.
On 20 Aug 1698 Henry Hobart 4th Baronet (age 41) died from wounds he had received in a duel with Oliver le Neve (age 36) at Cawston Heath, Norfolk. His son John Hobart 1st Earl Buckinghamshire (age 4) succeeded 5th Baronet Hobart of Intwood in Norfolk.
On 20 Aug 1698 Oliver le Neve (age 36) and Henry Hobart 4th Baronet (age 41) fought a duel at Cawston Heath, Norfolk. Henry Hobart 4th Baronet (age 41) received a fatal wound; he died the next day.
On 04 Jun 1699 Popham Seymour-Conway (age 24) drunkenly duelled with Captain George Kirk of the Royal Horse Guards; he was wounded in the neck.
On 18 Jun 1699 he died from wounds received duelling. His estates were inherited by his younger brother Francis Seymour-Conway 1st Baron Conway (age 20).
In Aug 1701 John Hamner 3rd Baronet (age 69) was killed in a duel (probably). His nephew Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet (age 23) succeeded 4th Baronet Hamner of Hamner in Flintshire. Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton (age 33) by marriage Lady Hamner of Hamner in Flintshire.
On 22 Aug 1701 Ferdinando Forster (age 31) was killed in a duel by John Fenwick. Ferdinando slipped on the cobbles before the duel commenced, and was run through by John Fenwick. As Ferdinando had slipped this was regarded as murder and exactly one month later, Fenwick was hanged on the same spot, the authorities having barred all the city gates to prevent any attempt by supporters, to rescue the condemned man.
In the annals of the line of "Bamburgh Forsters", Ferdinando is known only for his untimely end, and for his armour hanging in the Chancel of St Aidan's church, Bamburgh. It has been suggested that in a brawl at a Newcastle pub, Ferdinando, MP for Berwick, and Fenwick taunted each other with partisan political songs. But there seems to be more to it…
On 09 May 1711 Cholmley Dering 4th Baronet (age 31) was killed in a duel at Tothill Fields [Map]. His son Edward Dering 5th Baronet (age 6) succeeded 5th Baronet Dering of Surrenden Dering in Kent. The duel, unusually with pistols rather than swords, was with Richard Thornhill with whom Dering had argued in a pub near Hampton Court Palace, Richmond [Map] two days previously; Thornhill had afterwards sent Dering a note challenging him to a duel. Both pistols were fired but only Dering was hit. Richard Thornhill was tried for murder but convicted of the lesser offence of manslaughter. Thornhill was murdered three months later.
On 12 Nov 1712 Charles Mohun 4th Baron Mohun Okehampton (age 37) duelled with James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon (age 54) at Hyde Park [Map] over a legal dispute about the estate and inheritance of the late Earl Macclesfield.
Mohun had married Charlotte Orby Baroness Mohun Okehampton grand-daughter of Charles Gerard 1st Earl Macclesfield. James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon (age 54) had married Elizabeth Gerard Duchess Brandon (age 32).
On 15 Nov 1712 James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon (age 54) died from wounds received duelling. His son James Hamilton 5th Duke Hamilton 2nd Duke Brandon (age 9) succeeded 5th Duke Hamilton, 2nd Duke Brandon of Suffolk, 2nd Baron Dutton of Cheshire.
On 15 Nov 1712 Charles Mohun 4th Baron Mohun Okehampton (age 37) died from wounds received duelling; his father had died the same way. Baron Mohun Okehampton and Baronet Mohun of Boconnoc in Cornwall extinct.
On 24 Feb 1752 Captain Thomas Grey (age 23) was killed in a duel with George Farmer Lord Lempster at Marylebone Fields. George Farmer Lord Lempster was found guilty of manslaughter but appears to have received no punishment.
Letters of Horace Walpole. 27 Feb 1752. I write this as a sort of letter of form on the occasion, for there is nothing worth telling you. The event that has made most noise since my last, is the extempore wedding of the youngest (age 18) of the two Gunnings, who have made so vehement a noise. Lord Coventry (age 29)295, a grave young lord, of the remains of the patriot breed, has long dangled after the eldest (age 19), virtuously with regard to her virtue, not very honourably with regard to his own credit. About six weeks ago Duke Hamilton (age 27)296, the very reverse of the Earl, hot, debauched, extravagant, and equally damaged in his fortune and person, fell in love with the youngest at the masquerade, and determined to marry her in the spring. About a fortnight since, at an immense assembly at my Lord Chesterfield's, made to show the house, which is really magnificent, Duke Hamilton made violent love at one end of the room, while he was playing at pharaoh at the other end; that is, he saw neither the bank nor his own cards, which were of three hundred pounds each: he soon lost a thousand. I own I was so little a professor in love, that I thought all this parade looked ill for the poor girl; and could not conceive, if he was so much engaged with his mistress as to disregard such sums, why he played at all. However, two nights afterwards, being left alone with her while her mother and sister were at Bedford House, he found himself so impatient, that he sent for a parson. The doctor refused to perform the ceremony without license or ring: the Duke swore he would send for the Archbishop-at last they were married with a ring of the bed-curtain, at half an hour after twelve at night, at Mayfair chapel297, The Scotch are enraged; the women mad that so much beauty has had its effect; and what is most silly, my Lord Coventry (age 29) declares that he now will marry the other.
Poor Lord Lempster has just killed an officer298 in a duel, about a play-debt, and I fear was in the wrong. There is no end of his misfortunes and wrong-headedness!-Where is Mr. Conway!-Adieu!
Note 295. George-William (age 29), sixth Earl of Coventry. He died in 1809, at the age of eighty-seven.-E.
Note 296. James, fourth Duke of Hamilton. He died in 1758.-D.
Note 297. On the 14th of February.-E.
Note 298. Captain Gray of the Guards (deceased). The duel was fought, with swords, in Marylebone Fields. Lord Lempster took his trial at the Old Bailey in April, and was found guilty of manslaughter.-E.
On 03 Aug 1769 or 25 Aug 1769 James Agar (age 55) was killed in a duel with Henry Flood (age 37) his political rival. James, who missed with his first shot, reputedly shouted "Fire, you scoundrel!": Flood duly fired. Flood was prosecuted for murder, but was found guilty of manslaughter, and spared a prison sentence, as according to the code of the time he had acted honourably. The case, which aroused huge public interest.
On 07 May 1771 Edward Ligonier 1st Earl Ligonier (age 31) duelled at Green Park with Vittorio Amadeo, Count Alfieri, with whom he believed his wife Penelope Pitt (age 22) was conducting an affair.
In 1776 Richard Fitzgerald (age 43) was killed in a duel by his daughter's father-in-law Edward King 1st Earl Kingston (age 49).
On 25 Sep 1777 John Tollemache (age 27) was killed in a duel in New York by Lowther Pennington who had written a sonnet derogatory to Tollemache's wife Bridget Henley. Tollemache was run through with a sword. Pennington received seven wounds but survived. His son John Tollemache (age 2) was adopted by Lionel Tollemache 5th Earl Dysart (age 43).
On 26 May 1797 William Brabazon 9th Earl Meath (age 27) was killed in a duel with Mr Gore. It isn't clear what the duel was being fought over. His brother John Brabazon 10th Earl Meath (age 25) succeeded 10th Earl Meath.
In 1807 Francis Burdett 5th Baronet (age 36) fought a duel with James Paull 1770–1808 the reform candidate for the City of Westminster; both were wounded.
On 30 May 1809, in the morning, on Wimbledon Common Wimbledon, Surrey, Henry Cadogan (age 29) and Henry William Paget 1st Marquess Anglesey (age 41) duelled. Both men discharged their pistols, honour was satisfied and the parties left the field uninjured.
On 27 Mar 1822 Alexander Boswell 1st Baronet (age 46) died from wounds received duelling. The previous day he had fought a duel with James Stuart of Dunearn. Boswell fire wide, Stuart, who had never before handled a gun, hit Boswell's collar bone, fatally injuring him. Stuart was subsequently tried for murder and found not guilty. More than 11,000 people attended Boswell's funeral and the funeral procession was over a mile long. His son James Boswell 2nd Baronet (age 16) succeeded 2nd Baronet Boswell of Auchinleck in Ayrshire.
