John Ridout (1799-1817), still a teenager when he died in 1817, died in a duel with

Samuel Jarvis Samuel Peters Jarvis (November 15, 1792 – September 6, 1857) was a Canadian government official in the nineteenth century. He was the Chief Superintendent for the Indian Department in Upper Canada (1837–1845), and he was a member of the ...

. Both Ridout and Jarvis were from the small circle of privileged insiders called upon by the Lieutenant Governors of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

, to fill administrative posts, and sinecures, that

William Lyon Mackenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...

would later brand the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in ...

. Ridout's father, Thomas Ridout, was Upper Canada's Surveyor General. Jarvis's father, William Jarvis, had been appointed Upper Canada's provincial secretary and registrar.

Early life and military career

Ridout attended the District School, the first public school in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, in 1807. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

Ridout enlisted as a midshipman on the ''Royal George''. He was also a ''"confidential clerk"'' to his elder brother

Thomas Gibbs Ridout Thomas Gibbs Ridout was a member of the small circle of privileged insiders who Lieutenant Governors of Upper Canada appointed to hold administrative posts and sinecures. His father, Thomas Ridout, was Surveyor General of Upper Canada. Initia ...

, in the Army's Commissary Department.

Duel and death

On July 5, 1817, Ridout was working at his brother's law office. Ridout visited the office of

where they entered an argument. The next Tuesday, Ridout and Jarvis met on the streets on York and had another argument. The next day Ridout attacked Jarvis with a

bludgeon Bludgeon may refer to: * Club (weapon) * Bludgeon, a ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' character * Bludgeon, a ''Transformers'' character * WP:BLUDGEON, an English Wikipedia term for a type of disruptive editing See also * Bludgeoning Blu ...

and they physically fought each other until it was stopped by the militia. In the following days, Ridout and Jarvis agreed to a duel. The two men met at dawn, on July 12, 1817, at Elmsley's Farm north of York. The two were instructed to stand eight paces away from each other and fire on the count of three. Ridout fired early at two accidentally and missed. He approached Jarvis to apologise but was sent back to his place. It was agreed that Jarvis would fire a shot at an unarmed Ridout, which hit Ridout. Ridout exclaimed that the shot was foul play but then forgave Jarvis for killing him and fainted. Jarvis and two others left him where he was while Ridout vomited blood.

George Playter George Frederick Playter (31 August 1809 – 24 October 1866) was a Canadian minister, historian, and author who wrote ''The History of Methodism in Canada: With an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Work of God Among the Canadian Indian ...

found Ridout who again exclaimed that he was shot in foul play. Ridout was taken to James Macaulay to seek medical attention but died outside Macaulay's home. His last words were reported to forgive Jarvis again, a plea for his mother not to grieve and a desire to meet his sister in heaven. Ridout's autopsy concluded that Ridout was killed immediately by a shot to his shoulder, neck,

jugular The jugular veins are veins that take deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava. The internal jugular vein descends next to the internal carotid artery and continues posteriorly to the sternocleidomastoid mus ...

and

windpipe The trachea, also known as the windpipe, is a cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs. The trachea extends from the l ...

. According to Mike Filey this was the last duel in

, the capital of Upper Canada. Ridout was buried at St. James Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridout, John Upper Canada 1817 deaths Duelling fatalities Canadian duellists