THE
DUEL
A.I.B. Stewart
One hundred and fifty years ago, Campbeltown was a much smaller place than it is today. The map which is illustrated in Smith's "Views of Campbeltown" (1835) shows buildings in Main Street, Burnside Street, Kirk Street, Shore Street and Longrow. The sea, of course, came up to Shore Street and Lochend, and there were houses running along the length of Lochend connecting the Burgh with the village of Dalintober.
It can be imagined that in this small community, everyone, at least in the upper echelons of society, knew everyone else.
But human beings then seemed to show no more brotherly love than they do today and as my story shows, there was a good deal of disregard for the law among that class which might have been expected to observe and uphold it.
The records of the Criminal authorities for the year 1827 give a picture of a headstrong and wilful gentry, tetchy and arrogant, ever on the look out for slights to their honour.
David Stewart Galbraith of Machrihanish and Drumore lived at Drumore House. He was a Bailie of the Burgh in 1834 and in the voters roll is shown as possessing writing chambers in the Burgh. It seems to have been animosity for John Lorne Stewart Younger of Glenbuckie rather than a regard for the Law, which caused him in April 1827 to report to the Procurator Fiscal that a prosecution should be taken for culpable homicide against Stewart who, while driving his gig in the Main Street had knocked down an old man Dugald Hendry who was alleged to have died from his injuries.
The Procurator Fiscal does not seem to have been very impressed with the report but he dutifully investigated the facts. The Fiscal knew that the accident had been witnessed by Sheriff Mactavish and one or two other prominent citizens and very properly thought that if the Sheriff had not thought it necessary to report the matter there was unlikely to have been a crime.
In reporting the case to Robert Bruce, Sheriff Depute of the County, Daniel Mactaggart the Procurator Fiscal pointed out that Galbraith himself had been accused of striking Robert Muir, Baker in Campbeltown, with a cane to the effusion of blood. The Magistrates of the Burgh had instructed Galbraith to give a Bond for his good behaviour and the Fiscal believed he had reported John Lorne Stewart, the son of Duncan Stewart, ex-Frovost of the Burgh and the Chamberlain of Kintyre as much to embarass the Provost as for any other reason.
Even before these events, other prominent citizens came to the notice of the criminal authorities.
In February 1827, Alexander Campbell, Messenger at Arms in Lochgilphead had called at Ballinakiel House, then the seat of Angus McAlester. It had been a disastrous meeting and ended up with charges against Campbell of hamesucken (the old Scots crime of forcing entry to a man's home to assault him) and assault on Ballinakiel and his brother John and on the other hand, Ballinakiel was accused of deforcenent (interfering with a Messenger in the course of his duties) and assault on Campbell.
The Procurator Fiscal duly reported to the Sheriff that he had investigated but had not taken proceedings.
He wrote "When Campbell was examined, he stated that Ballinakiel knocked him down, repeatedly leaped upon his body, cut and bled him, and that he called out 'Murder' six or seven times. His assistant Donald Jackson corroborated his statement in every particular and by their story Ballinakiel's conduct was most disgraceful. But the servants who were in the house that night heard no noise or quarreling or cries of Murder. One of then who was in the room saw Campbell asleep on a sofa and heard Ballinakiel refuse to give him dinner and no person saw marks of violence on Campbell except Jackson. Mr McAlester's story is that his brother Ballinakiel refused to allow Campbell to dine with him who had previously promised to wait until an express should return from Campbeltown - that Campbell went to Clachan and returned after dinner, waited in the room till late - was shown to the door - he returned on pretence of seeking for something and when passing Ballinakiel and his brother struck each a violent blow on the head and ran off. The surgeon says that Mr John McAlester's life was not out of danger for 7 or 8 days and another witness declared that his room was like a slaughter-house. The stories on both sides are very much against the opposite party But I am disposed to believe that Campbell is the guilty person and that he is the one who ought to be taken up in place of Ballinakiel. For my own part however, I would not venture to apply for a warrant against either".
The same view was taken by the Lord Advocate's office and no proceedings took place.
This brush with the law however, did not act as a deterrent to John McAlester, and on 7th May the Procurator Fiscal wrote to him:
"As it is dreaded that you and Mr John Beith (who was Manager of the Renfrewshire Bank) intend to commit a breach of the Peace it is necessary you should be both put under caution and to save the trouble of sending a warrant and party to apprehend you I beg you may come down here and it will be as well your Brother should accompany you and sign the Bond".
John McAlester granted a Bond and a week later the Fiscal wrote him to the effect that, in his opinion, he and not Mr Beith was to blame for "this disagreeable occurrence".
"My opinion is that you should settle the matter. Mr Beith is a little stiff and short in the temper but there is a great deal of sterling honesty about him and altho he should be at times a little crabit when unreasonably or hard pressed, I think under all the circumstances and his connection with your brother's affairs you should have had a little more patience about him I think you should make an apology to quash the matter. I believe you to be decidedly wrong. It is more manly in my opinion for you to admit your error than fight a duel".
John McAlester seems to have quietened down under the Fiscal's admonition, but it is not surprising that he was agog to hear more of the happenings of the last week of October which must have had all Campbeltown astir.
His cousin Archy Watson, a Campbeltown merchant rushed to quench his thirst for information (1)
"Campbeltown: Friday 2nd November, 1827.
My dear John,
I have your letter of the 1st inst. wishing to know the result of Captain Frederick's and Mr. John Stewart's affair the Parties went from this on Wednesday by the steamboat and no further accounts of them is yett known.
There is so many different accounts of the Cause of the quarrel that I cannot vouch to give you the true one Report says that the difference happened in consequence of Captain Frederick's name being erased from the list of Justices at Inveraray and I believe he blamed Mr. Stewart for having done so or been the Cause.
On Saturday last Captain Frederick went out to Knockrioch and after meeting Mr. Stewart he handed him a letter to read and look him streight in the face. Mr. Stewart having read it assured him he had nothing to do in the Matter. High words having taken place Captain Frederick alighted from his horse when boxing started and the Captain was floored on his bottom report says that Captain Frederick then offered to shake hands and make the matter up which Mr. Stewart refused.
The Gentlemen came into town and chuse their Seconds when a meeting was emmediately to take place but information being given to the Sheriff, Warrants was issued and the Parties were obliged to lodge Caution.
The parties are both gone with the Steamboat to decide the Matter. Captain Halford has gone as Mr Stewart's friend and D. Stewart Galbraith Esqr as Captain Frederick's. Mr. Dugald Brown is taken as Surgeon but I do not think any Meeting will take place as Mr McTaggart has wrote all the Sheraffs to take the Parties up. The Matter will certainly make a great noise and I have no doubt you will see some account of it in the Pappers by the time you receive this.
Excuse this scrole as I can hardly hold the pen in my hand. I thank you for the pair of birds by the Carier".
The fact that the Procurator Fiscal Daniel Mactaggart was married to Captain Frederick's sister must have caused some amusement to the beneficiary of the Fiscal's recent homily on the inadvisability of fighting duels.
Local legend has it, though I have been unable to trace any written record, that the reason for the trip to Glasgow was that one of the local ministers hearing of the proposed duel took an early morning constitutional and interrupted the preparations.
There is no evidence in the records that the Fiscal took steps to warn colleagues in other Sheriffdoms but he had done what he could to stop the affair locally.
On 27th October he took a Petition against both parties for assault on each other and for breach of the peace and he spent the best part of 28th and 29th taking statements from witnesses and declarations from the Parties and there can be little doubt that the words of wisdom he had earlier directed to John McAllister would be addressed to his own brother-in-law.
One cannot but have sympathy for the Fiscal. Captain Frederick was not only a close relative but a trusted intimate. Very shortly before, he had been engaged by Mr. Mactaggart as a confidential emissary in negotiations arising out of the alleged jilting of a young relative by the Minister of the Highland Church.
Duelling was a serious matter. Up till 1820 fighting a duel, even though no injury resulted had been a capital crime in Scotland, and even to issue a challenge was a serious offence.
Sir Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck (son of Johnson's biographer) had succeeded in having an Act passed which abolished these crimes as such. By a tragic irony, he himself was killed in a duel on 22nd March 1822 - the last fatal duel in Scotland so far as I can discover.
One can therefore understand the Fiscal's distaste for the whole business, as evidenced by the letter he wrote to Dugald Mactavish of Kilchrist, the Sheriff Substitute, on 30th October:
"Since you left town I have again perused the Declarations in this wretched business, and altho I agree with you in thinking that the case should be sent to Mr Bruce (the Sheriff Depute) yet I feel unspeakable difficulty in addressing him on the subject and I have therefor to entreat that you will take the trouble of forwarding the papers yourself".
Meantime, the two warriors were set on carrying out the affair and the Glasgow Herald of 2nd November cryptically announced:
"An affair of honour took place yesterday morning in a field near town on the Dumbarton Road betwixt two gentlemen who arrived the previous evening from Argyleshire where they had been bound over to keep the peace. After an exchange of shots the Seconds interfered and an amicable arrangement ensued".
Perhaps the Editor of the Herald was fortunate not to receive a challenge
himself, because the gentlemen eventually insisted on a correction which
appeared in the paper on Monday 5th November.
It was as follows:-
"We are authorised to state that in the affair of honour mentioned in our last no interference on the part of the Seconds took place. After exchange of shots Mr S in the most handsome manner advanced towards his antagonist Captain C and declared that he considered him a man of honour and a gentleman which satisfied the friends of the parties
And there, it seem's, the matter ended.
The Procurator Fiscal was able to report, no doubt, with real satisfaction to the Sheriff Principal on 9th November,
"The affair between Mr Stewart and Captain Frederick Campbell has been settled according to Military Etiquette and as I understand they shaked hands before leaving the field. I hope they got quit of their gall and are now good friends again".
And, on 13th November he gives a much fuller explanation to John McNeill of Oakfield:
"You would have heard from the newspapers that Captain Frederick Campbell and Mr John Stewart had a disagreeable meeting near Glasgow and was in consequence of the former being recommended for nomination by the District meeting in the new Commission of the Peace and the Latter with Colonel McAlester having scored his name in a Secret Committee from the original extract which they afterwards allowed to be returned to the Clerk and deposited anong the public records where it was seen. Captain Frederick's friends consider him to be a most sober correct and intelligent man and in rank and circumstances superior to some of those who have been recommended and he appears to feel very acutely what he persists in saying was a personal insult.
His wife knew nothing of this business until the day after he left this for Glasgow. They have both been very happy since her last return from Edinburgh and as poor Frederick was beginning to feel more comfortable both at home and abroad both Mrs Campbells have been alarmed least this business should sit more heavily on his mind than it ought but in any conversation I had with him on the subject he spoke calmly and deliberately and I sincerely hope he will soon forget it".
There is perhaps an indication here of the gallant Captain's irascibility and other correspondence indicates that he was perhaps suffering from high blood pressure.
That seems to be the end of the matter and there is no indication of a recurrence of this somewhat sudden outbreak of violence among so many prominent citizens.
Captain Frederick Campbell was the son of Captain Scipio Duroure Campbell and Giles Campbell whose father Archibald Campbell was Chamberlain of Kintyre and who according to Colonel Charles Mactaggart, a descendant, was of the Camphells of Kinloch (2). The father was of the Campbells of South Hall, the representative of which family was a member of the jury which convicted James Stewart of the Glen in connection with the Appin Murder. Captain Scipio had a half brother known as Mustapha Pasha who became Grand Vizier of Turkey and Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Army. Frederick himself served with the 94th Regiment, the Scots Brigade, which was originally raised in 1793 and served in India and in the Peninsular War and took part in the reduction of Badajoz in 1812.
John Lorne Stewart was the son and successor of Duncan Stewart, Chamberlain of Kintyre, who acquired Knockrioch Estate in 1798. Father and son were Provosts of the Burgh.
The family were known as Stewart of Glenbuckie, their Estate on Loch Voil side where the family house of Stronvar stood. It was they who built Stronvar in Campbeltown The original Glenbuckie line died out in the 18th Century, but a Stewart of Ardsheal married a Glenbuckie daughter and they continued to design themselves as of Glenbuckie. The last part proprietor of Knockrioch actually bearing the name of Stewart was Robert Bruce Stewart, who died in 1948 and was Chief of the Appin Stewarts. The village of Stewarton takes its name from this family.
In view of the Athol raids of 1685/89 it is strange to find a Perthshire Stewart appointed as factor to the Duke's Kintyre Estates.
Footnotes
(1) 'Duel in Dumbarton Road' by Alison G. Moffat - Glasgow Herald 15th February 1958. Thanks are due to the author whom I have been unable to contact, for stimulating my interest in this event and to the Editor of the Glasgow Herald for permission to quote extensively.
(2) "A Ramble through Old Kilkerran Cemetery" A lecture given by Colonel Charles Mactaggart to the Society on 25th October 1922. I am sure I heard this lecture (at the age of 7) and I have always been conscious of the debt I owe to Colonel Mactaggart for stimulating my interest in the history of our native town.
Page 2: Major John Campbell ob 1685
Page 3: The Shannons of Lephenstrath / The Port of Machrimore
Page 4: Flora MacDonald in America
Page 5: A Late 18th Century Letter from Campbeltown to America
Page 6: Letter from America to a Brother in Campbeltown
Page 8: The Annabella - A Poem