10 London Duels

1.Sir George Wharton v. Sir James Stuart,
Both .men were leading figures at the court court of James. I but both had a reputation for violence and dissipation. A quarrel between Wharton and the Earl of Pembroke over cards had nearly finished duel and only the intervention of the king had prevented it. In l'609, another argument at the gaming table, this time between Wharton and Sir James Stuart resulted in a duel which the king was unable to' stop fighting with rapier and dagger in fields at Canonbury, the two men both died. 'At the first thrust each of them killed the other,' according to a contemporary report, 'and they fell dead in each Other's
2The Field of the
The name was given to an area behind the British Museum, long covered over by Montague Street. The name came from a story, probably apocryphal, of two brothers who fought a duel over a woman on the site at the time of the Duke of Monmouth-s rebellion in 1685. Both were killed and the forty impressions of their feet, made on the ground as they paced away from One another before firing their pistols, remained there for many-years afterwards.
3.Lord Mohun and Duke of Hamilton, 1712
The fourth Baron Mohun was an inveterate dueller who had twice been charged and twice acquitted of murder but he made a fatal mistake when, aggravated by a long dispute between the two men Over a property in the north of England, he challenged the Duke of Hamilton to cross swords with him. When they met in Hyde Park, the Duke ran Mohun through and then moved to his side to offer assistance. Mohun, gentlemanly to the last, stabbed him in the stomach. Both men died. There is a fictional account of the duel in Thackeray's novel, The History of Henry Esmond.
4.William Byron v. William Chaworth, Star and Garter Inn, 1765
William Byron, 5th Baron Byron was the great-uncle of the poet and already had a reputation for violence and villainy before a tavern quarrel with his kinsman, William Chaworth, supposedly over the best way to hang game, ended in a duel. The fight took place in a back room of the Star and Garter Inn in Pall Mall and, in the dimly lit space, Byron stabbed Chaworth in the stomach. Chaworth lived on for a day, complaining only about the fact that he had been stupid enough to fight in a room where the light was too poor for him to see his opponent properly. Byron, soon to be known as the 'Wicked Lord', was tried by his peers in the House of Lords and, found guilty of manslaughter, was fined. The sword he had used to kill Chaworth was given pride of place on the wall of his bedroom at the family estate at Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.
5.Charles Edward Fox v. William Adam, 1779
Fox was a scathing critic of Lord North's policies in America and the duel was fought against one of North's supporters whom he had denounced. It was suggested by his second that Fox, a large man, should stand sideways to minimise the chances of being hit. Fox refused, remarking, 'I'm as thick one way as the other!'
6.Lady Almeria Braddock v. Mrs Elphinstone, Hyde Park, 1792
The so-called 'petticoat duel' resulted from a heated discussion between the two women about Lady Braddock's true age. Pistol shots were exchanged, one of which blew off Lady Braddock's hat, and the two women then crossed swords and fenced until Mrs Elphinstone was wounded slightly in the arm. Wisely, she then chose to apologise to her opponent for doubting her word about her age and the duel came to an end.
7.Humphrey Howarth MP v. Lord Barrymore, 1806
Howarth stripped naked before the duel because, he claimed, he didn't want to run the risk that pieces of his clothing might enter any wounds he might receive and infect them. Acutely aware of the absurdity of exchanging pistol shots with a nude man, Barrymore withdrew from the. encounter.
8.Castlereagh v. Canning, Putney Heath, 1809
One of the few occasions when two Cabinet ministers have tried to solve their differences with a pistol fight, the duel between George Canning, then Foreign Secretary, arid Lord Castlereagh, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, took place at the height of the war against Napoleon. The two men had quarrelled over the deployment of troops in Europe and Castlereagh, discovering what he believed to be a plot between Canning and the Prime Minister to oust him from office, challenged his rival to a duel. The duel took place on Putney Heath on 21 September 1809. Canning, who had never fired a pistol in his life, unsurprisingly missed his opponent. Castlereagh, more expert, shot Canning in the thigh. Both men lost office later in the same year, although not as a direct consequence of trying to kill one another.
9.John Scott v. JH Christie, Chalk Farm, 1821
A literary quarrel that escalated into violence, the argument between John Scott, the editor of the London Magazine and another journalist, JH Christie, began with debate about the merits of writers like Keats and Hazlitt and ended in a moonlit duel at Chalk Farm. Christie fired in the air, after Scott had missed, but Scott's second refused to accept that honour had been satisfied and demanded that another exchange of shots should be made. Scott again missed but Christie, firing this time towards his opponent, shot him through the hips and the intestine.
Scott died ten days later.
10. Duke of Wellington v. Lord Winchilsea, Battersea Fields, 1829
When Wellington-became prime minister, one of his first acts - although it was one that was forced on him and he was unwilling to do it - was to give Roman Catholics a greater role in public life. According to a backwoods peer called Lord Winchilsea, in allowing the Catholic Emancipation Act to pass, the duke had 'treacherously plotted the destruction of the Protestant constitution'. Wellington responded to the criticism by challenging Winchilsea to a duel. When the two men met at Battersea Fields on 21 March, they both deliberately fired to miss. Honour having been satisfied, Winchilsea apologised for his remarks. This is the last occasion in which a British PM fought a duel.