‘An Object of Detestation’: The Campaign Against Duelling in the Early Nineteenth Century

In 1826, in a letter to the Herald of Peace, the writer (N.N.) observed that William Wilberforce believed that duelling was ‘the disgrace of a Christian society’ and that there were few restraints and little opposition to such practices. Wilberforce had consistently questioned the value of an ‘honour’ code based on the barbarity of a duel. For him, duelling had long been an abomination in a civilised society and was a criminal activity. And yet it was tolerated, particularly among the gentry and the military. What follows is a brief examination of the duel as reported in the pages of the Herald of Peace, particularly observing the widespread acceptability of the practice in the British Isles and further afield in Europe and America as a code of honour, and the growing unease among the proponents of peace and those members who established the short-lived Association to Suppress Duelling.

Dr Allen is a Visiting Fellow at ANU and at Newcastle University. A former Fulbright Professor in Missouri, he was also a Reader in History at the University of South Wales. His research interests include the social and religious history of the British Isles and America, especially emigration to Pennsylvania. He has published on Quakerism, migration, and identity, notably Quaker Communities in Early Modern Wales (2007); the co-authored The Quakers, 1656–1722 (2018) and several edited books. He is currently writing Welsh Quaker Emigrants and Colonial Pennsylvania and co-authoring, Quaker Networks and Moral Reform in the North East of England.

Date & time

Wed 04 Mar 2020, 4.15–5.30pm

Location

McDonald Room, Menzies Library

Speakers

Richard Allen

School/Centre

School of History

Contacts

School of History

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