AUTHOR'S NOTE
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AUTHOR'S NOTEPrivate duelling was never as prevalent in England as in France, although under James I it became in the words of Francis Bacon, an ‘unbridled evil’.
In George III's reign 172 duels were reported in which 91 persons were killed. In 1808 a notable duel took place between Viscount Castlereagh-the Secretary for War, and George Canning, the Foreign Secretary.
Up to 1840 the British Military code authorised duelling, but it became a Military Offence in the Army Act of 1881. Thereafter duels took place abroad, usually at Calais or Boulogne.
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