Pistols at dawn - September 2010 Document of the Month
Duelling was a form of combat between two individuals designed to resolve arguments over personal honour. In the Document of the Month for September, we look at an eighteenth century duel between two Dorset: James Warden and Norman Bond.
James Warden had enjoyed a distinguished career in the Royal Navy as a commissioned officer, seeing action in both the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence. However, he seems to have been a difficult man to get along with. He bought the manor of Charmouth some time towards the end of the 1700s, and soon fell out with many of the local inhabitants. He objected to a number of local rates and elections at parish meetings, he took legal action against the vicar and others for removing sand from the beach and he disinherited his son.
But his most serious altercation was with neighbouring landowner, Norman Bond. When Warden and Bond met in the street, an argument ensued in which Warden became extremely abusive and threatened to shoot Bond's dogs. Bond demanded Warden apologise, Warden refused, and so Bond challenged Warden to a duel. The time and place was quickly set - the duellers would meet at Hunters' Lodge on the morning of 28 April 1792.
According to contemporary sources, Warden's wife, Elizabeth, did not oppose the duel, and in fact, seemed to support it. She made no attempt to alert the authorities about the impending bloodshed, even though one of her neighbours was a magistrate. She was the one who had obtained the pistols for the duel, and apparently suggested that whichever way the duel went, she would be pleased - either Warden would be killed by Bond, or hung as a murderer if he was victorious.
The day of the duel arrived. As Bond had issued the challenge, Warden took the first shot. Bond had a narrow escape as the ball passed straight through his hat. Bond now took his shot - Warden fell to the ground. He had been shot through the heart and died almost instantly.
Although duelling was still tacitly accepted in British society at the time, Warden's death was, in a legal sense, murder. An inquest was held at Axminster, but Bond had already fled to Barbados. Rumours persisted that he later returned to Britain, but his ultimate fate is unknown. Elizabeth Warden died in 1798 of a 'pining sickness'. Warden himself was buried at Charmouth.
In Britain, duelling gradually fell out of favour during the first half of the 1800s, and by the middle of the century was largely discredited as a means of resolving personal disputes.
The above account is drawn from the notes of R W J Pavey [ref: D/PAV/20], part of the Pavey of Clifton, Charminster and Charmouth collection.
