Why did Wellington fight a duel in 1829?
Wellington was under enormous political pressure as
Prime Minister throughout 1828 and 1829. This centred
on the proposal to grant emancipation to Irish Catholics
when faced with the threat of civil war in Ireland,
and which provoked fierce political controversy across
the nation and among Wellington's Tory colleagues. Daniel
O'Connell's Catholic Association led the popular movement
for reform in Ireland and the crisis came to a head
with the County Clare by-election of July 1828 when
O'Connell was elected but debarred from sitting as an
MP on account of his religion. The Duke, hitherto a
critic of emancipation and generally suspicious of popular
reform, eventually recognised the urgent need for change,
concurring with his more progressive Home Secretary,
Sir Robert Peel, who wrote that 'partial concessions
would be of no use: they would give power to the Roman
Catholics without giving satisfaction'.
One of Wellington's chief political opponents was George
Finch-Hatton, the 9th Earl of Winchilsea (1791-1858).
A political firebrand and a staunch defender of the
protestant party, Winchilsea was also a vocal critic
of O'Connell and was especially hostile to Catholic
emancipation.
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