The Wellington-Winchilsea Duel took place on 21 March 1829 at

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

, then in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on the outskirts of London. It was a bloodless

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

fought between the British

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

and

George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

. It was the second and last duel fought by a sitting Prime Minister following the 1798

Pitt–Tierney duel The Pitt–Tierney Duel took place on 27 May 1798 when the Prime Minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger met his political opponent George Tierney in a duel with pistols on Putney Heath outside London. Background Pitt had been Prime ...

Putney Heath Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 46 ...

Background

The duel was sparked by the Wellington Government's introduction of Catholic Emancipation the same year. This marked a shift in Wellington's position. Although not unsympathetic to Catholics (having served alongside many during his military career), Wellington had previously opposed the proposed measures. However his pragmatic move to accept them angered many of his former supporters, who formed the

Ultra-Tory The Ultra-Tories were an Anglican faction of British and Irish politics that appeared in the 1820s in opposition to Catholic emancipation. The faction was, in the twenty-first century, called the " extreme right-wing" of British and Irish polit ...

movement.James J. Sack
"Ultra tories (''act''. 1827–1834)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 19 September 2011. Winchilsea, an aristocrat more than 20 years Wellington's junior, was opposed to Catholic relief. He attacked the Duke verbally and accused him in a letter to ''

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'' on 14 March 1829 of "an insidious design for the infringement of our liberties and the introduction of Popery into every department of the State". Wellington wrote to him demanding a formal apology but Winchilsea, while privately admitting he had gone too far, felt he could not back down without losing his honour. Wellington then challenged him to a duel. He was likely irritated to find himself in such a situation, having avoided and opposed duels throughout his military career.

Duel

The Duke appointed his old comrade Sir Henry Hardinge as his

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

while Lord Falmouth acted for Winchilsea. John Robert Hume, the military

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

who had served with Wellington in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

and at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

, was in attendance. He produced a detailed account of the exchange.Muir p.577 The two participants met early in the day at

Battersea Fields Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, London, Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies ...

, with Wellington's party having crossed

Battersea Bridge Battersea Bridge is a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers crossing the River Thames in London, England. It is situated on a sharp bend in the river, and links Battersea south of the river with Chelsea to the north. ...

on horseback while Winchilsea's took a more roundabout route via

Putney Bridge Putney Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames in west London, linking Putney on the south side with Fulham to the north. Before the first bridge was built in 1729, a ferry had shuttled between the two banks. The current for ...

, their coachman having mistakenly driven them to Putney instead of Battersea. By common practice of the era, the combatants were to use duelling pistols rather than

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s. The seconds exchanged conversation and it was clear that Falmouth was alarmed in case Wellington was killed or wounded and he should be blamed. Once the pistols were loaded, the two men took up position twelve paces from each other. Wellington remained silent and aloof during the build-up. Once the command was given to fire Wellington raised his pistol and fired, missing Winchilsea. His opponent, having remained motionless, now raised his pistol and fired at the sky (an act known as

deloping ''Delope'' ( French for "throwing away") is the practice of deliberately wasting one's first shot in a pistol duel, an attempt to abort the conflict. The Irish ''code duello'' forbids the practice. Notable uses * Alexander Hamilton, a 19th-centu ...

). Having faced Wellington's shot there was no longer any allegation of cowardice that could be thrown at Winchilsea. His second, Falmouth, eagerly accepted that Winchilsea had been on the wrong and was now able to apologise unconditionally.

Aftermath

Newspapers, political commentators and popular opinion was scandalised by news of the duel. ''

The Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning ...

'', for example, talked of the potential loss of the "first warrior of England", saying it was "too monstrous" that Wellington should risk his life "in compliance with this social superstition." However, Wellington's reputation was enhanced, and he was seen to have outflanked his political opponents by impressing public opinion and stopping slanders undermining his government. He said: "The atmosphere of calumny in which I had been for some time living cleared away." The Old King's Club, an alumni association of

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The s ...

, holds an annual dinner marking 'Duel Day'. The duel was the second and last fought by a sitting Prime Minister following the 1798 Pitt–Tierney duel on Putney Heath.

Relationship afterwards

Wellington and Winchilsea subsequently remained on most friendly terms. Wellington frequently invited Winchilsea, a fellow Tory, to various dinners or parties. In 1834, Wellington even specifically came up to London from his country estate to witness Winchilsea's second wedding to his own great niece, Emily Bagot (daughter of Lady Anne Wellesley). After the wedding he went back to his country estate, Stratfield Saye House.

References

Bibliography