Gentlemanly Satisfaction: the Wellington-Winchelsea Duel of 1829

Abstract

When, in 1829, the Duke of Wellington's government moved to pass Roman Catholic emancipation-basically the restoration of the right of British and Irish Catholics to sit in parliament-Lord Winchilsea in Ultra-Tory outrage publicly and without parliamentary immunity accused the prime minister of having treacherously plotted the destruction of the Protestant constitution. The resulting passage of arms in London's Battersea Fields, through its unusually abundant documentation, provides a singular moment of insight into not only the personal qualities of the participants, but also the political culture of the time and the decline of duelling in British society.