Broadside entitled 'Dreadful Duel!'

Commentary

This report begins: 'Full, True, and Particular Account of the Disturbances in Ireland, with an account of the Horrid Murders committed there___also an account of the Duel which was fought last week between the D__e of W____n and L__d A____p.' The sheet was published by John Campbell of Edinburgh.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), was the last Prime Minister to fight a serious duel. It was over his support of Catholic Emancipation. That duel, in which no-one was hurt, was with Lord Winchelsea, in 1829, about the same time as this piece. However, in the duel mentioned here, Wellington was killed and the opponent's last name doesn't fit.

The sheet goes on to report on the troubles in Ireland, which Wellington was embroiled in. It ends with a rather gruesome story, also from Ireland, about a former policeman who had lost his job after being caught in a brothel. The resultant distress proved too much and he murdered his two young daughters by beheading them. He then killed himself.

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