Killed in a duel

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.

notes

From Wikipedia

In Western society, the formal concept of a duel developed out of the mediaeval judicial duel and older pre-Christian practices such as the Viking Age holmgang.

During the early Renaissance, dueling established the status of a respectable gentleman, and was an accepted manner to resolve disputes.

The tradition of duelling and the word duel itself were brought to Russia in the 17th century by adventurers in Russian service. Duelling quickly became so popular – and the number of casualties among the commanding ranks so high – that, in 1715, Emperor Peter the First was forced to forbid the practice on pain of having both duellists hanged.

The quick draw duel is a stereotypical aspect of a gunfighter story in the American Western film genre, although real life Wild West duels did happen such as the Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout, Doc Holliday and Mike Gordon duel, and Luke Short – Jim Courtright duel (see Real-life Wild West duels). Fatal duels were often fought to uphold personal honor in the rural American frontier. Towns such as Tombstone, Arizona, and Dodge City, Kansas, prevented these duels by prohibiting civilians from carrying firearms, by local ordinance.

By the outbreak of World War I, duelling had not only been made illegal almost everywhere in the Western world, but was also widely seen as an anachronism. Military establishments in most countries frowned on duelling because officers were the main contestants. Officers were often trained at military academies at government's expense; when officers killed one another it imposed an unnecessary financial and leadership strain on a military organization, making duelling unpopular with high-ranking officers.

With the end of the duel, the dress sword also lost its position as an indispensable part of a gentleman's wardrobe, a development described as an "archaeological terminus" by Ewart Oakeshott, concluding the long period during which the sword had been a visible attribute of the free man, beginning as early as three millennia ago with the Bronze Age sword.

But to this day, any politician sworn in as Governor of Kentucky must declare under oath that he has not participated in a duel.

notables

This is a list of people killed in duels by date:

1. Cadeguala, Mapuche toqui, by Alonso García de Ramón at Purén, Chile —1585
2. Sir William Drury, English politician and soldier, by Sir John Borough, died from wound received in duel in France —1590
3. Gabriel Spenser, Elizabethan actor, by Ben Jonson on Hoxton Fields, London —1598
4. Sir John Townsend, English politician, by Sir Thomas Browne on Hounslow Heath, London —1603
5. Edward Bruce, 2nd Lord Kinloss, English peer —1613
6. Peter Legh, English politician, by Valentine Browne —1640
7. Armand d'Athos, inspiration for the Alexandre Dumas character of the same name —1643
8. Charles Price, English politician, by Capt. Robert Sandys at Presteigne — 1645
9. Sir Henry Bellasis (heir of John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse), by Thomas Porter (dramatist) at Covent Garden, London —1667
10. Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, by the Duke of Buckingham — 1668
11. Charles Mohun, 3rd Baron Mohun of Okehampton, acting as second to William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire — 1677
12. Walter Norborne, English politician, by an Irishman at the fountain at Middle Temple, London — 1684
13. John Talbot, brother of the Earl of Shrewsbury, by Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton — 1686
14. Sir Henry Hobart, English politician, by Oliver Le Neve on Cawston Heath, Norfolk — 1698
15. Sir John Hanmer, 3rd Baronet, English politician — 1701
16. Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, perennial duellist and James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, in Hyde Park, London — 1712
17. Peder Tordenskjold, Norwegian naval officer, by Jakob Axel Staël von Holstein — 1720
18. George Lockhart, Scottish politician and writer, Jacobite spy — 1731
19. Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, by Capt. George Reilly at Marlborough Bowling Green, Dublin — 1761
20. Button Gwinnett, signer of the Declaration of Independence by Lachlan McIntosh near Savannah, Georgia — 1777
21. Sir Barry Denny, 2nd Baronet — 1794
22. Prince Karl Joseph Emanuel Albinus, Austrian prince, in Vienna — 1795
23. Richard Dobbs Spaight, delegate to the Continental Congress and Governor of North Carolina, by John Stanly — 1802
24. Peter Lawrence Van Allen, lawyer, by William Harris Crawford, future U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, at Fort Charlotte in South Carolina — 1802
25. Alexander Hamilton, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, by U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr — 1804
26. Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford, English peer and naval officer, by his friend Thomas Best near Holland House, London — 1804
27. Charles Dickinson, by future U.S. President Andrew Jackson — 1806
28. Charles Lucas, legislator in Missouri Territory, by U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton—1817
29. Armistead Thompson Mason, U.S. Senator from Virginia — 1819
30. Stephen Decatur, American naval hero, by James Barron — 1820
31. John Scott, founder and editor of the London Magazine — 1821
32. Joshua Barton, first Missouri Secretary of State — 1823
33. Henry Wharton Conway, Arkansas politician — 1827
34. Évariste Galois, mathematician — 1832
35. Robert Lyon, last Canadian duelling fatality — 1833
36. Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian poet and writer of the Romantic era, by Georges d'Anthès — 1837
37. Peter Simpson, English Painter— 1837[citation needed]
38. Jonathan Cilley, U.S. Representative from Maine, by William J. Graves — 1838
39. Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poet and writer of the Romantic era — 1841
40. George A. Waggaman, U.S. Senator from Louisiana — 1843
41. Samuel Hamilton Walker, Texas Ranger and U.S. Army officer — 1847
42. Edward Gilbert, U.S. newspaper editor, by James W. Denver near Sacramento — 1852
43. David C. Broderick, U.S. Senator from California — 1859
44. Lucius M. Walker, Confederate Civil War general — 1863
45. Ferdinand Lassalle, German socialist leader — 1864
46. Manuel Corchado y Juarbe, Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician — 1884
47. Felice Cavallotti, Italian radical leader — 1898
48. Euclides da Cunha, Brazilian writer — 1909

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See also

• Lists of people by cause of death
• List of famous duels

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