Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths Around Portsmouth by Sarah Quail

Author:Sarah Quail
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783408719
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2013-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

King’s Rooms and view across the Little Morrass towards Old Portsmouth, early nineteenth century. From Gates

Duelling was almost a local pastime at this period due to the large numbers of naval and military men stationed in the town and its environs. Appeals to arms in vindication of outraged honour were numerous. A duel took place on 6 November 1800 in a passage behind the Blue Posts in Broad Street, between Lieutenant Stapleton of the 20th Foot and Ensign Grainger of the Guards, following a quarrel over the question of precedence in the Army. Stapleton’s pistol missed fire and Grainger’s ball went wide. Stapleton insisted upon his right to a shot and, aiming deliberately, shot Grainger in the thigh. He died from the wound some four days later and was buried in the grounds of the Garrison Church. Stapleton was arrested and tried in due course at the Assizes in Winchester. He was found guilty of manslaughter, sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined £50, but this was mitigated and he was in fact released from prison having served barely nine weeks of his sentence.

Another duel took place a few months later in April 1801 at Fort Monckton between two young officers of the West Norfolk Regiment, one of whom was so severely wounded that he died the same evening. A dispute between two naval officers, Lieutenant Charlton of HMS Mars and Lieutenant Guthrie of the Royal Marines, took place in July 1807. One accused the other of lying. Pistols were drawn at twelve paces. Lieutenant Charlton was hit in the thigh and died subsequently in Haslar Hospital. A verdict of wilful murder was returned by the coroner’s jury but Lieutenant Charlton was acquitted at the Assizes.

Another argument, this time between two Royal Marines officers, Lieutenant Bagnall and Lieutenant Stuart, culminated in pistols on Southsea Common in October 1812, and the following year a duel took place between Lieutenant John Blundell of the 101st Regiment and Ensign Edward Macguire of the 6th West India Regiment at Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight. At the second discharge Blundell received a mortal wound and died two days later. Macguire was found guilty in due course and sentenced to death but was pardoned eventually. He seems to have been the unwitting tool of others, and particularly of one Lieutenant Dillon who had been jilted by Blundell’s wife, reputedly a great beauty and the daughter of Mr Henry White, the mayor of Portsmouth, who was knighted by the Prince Regent in 1814 on the occasion of the visit of the allied sovereigns to Portsmouth that year. Mrs Blundell was a remarkable woman. Her first husband was also a military officer. He was ordered abroad however directly after the wedding, and killed in action. Her second husband was Blundell. Before she was nineteen she had had three husbands, and by her fourth, had thirteen children!

The duel – purportedly the last fought in England - which took place at Browndown on 20 May 1845 between Lieutenant Charles

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