Two Irishmen clash on Exeter Racecourse.
The Cork Doctor versus The Kerry Admiralty Court Judge.
This man Sir John William Jeffcott fought a duel with the lamented Dr. Peter Hennis but the circumstances of the event appeared not to comply with the "Code Duello", the laws laid down in late eighteenth century in Ireland detailing how a duel (with pistols) should be actioned. Yet, if we put a legal eye on this case, it is possible that Sir John William Jeffcott was correctly acquitted of murder in this case.
The duel in question took place at Haldon racecourse, just outside the city of Exeter on the 10th May 1833. The time of the duel is noted at 4.30pm but this is an unusually late hour for this type of activity as traditionally by their nature they were fought in the early hours.. ( Pistols at Dawn).. in order to avoid interference from those wishing to halt an "Affair of Honour" ,yet the evidence does imply the hour was this late in the day.
The duel was fought at 14 paces and it was agreed by the Seconds that the affair would be controlled by the signals "Prepare" and "Fire".... in this instance the word "fire" was never issued and Sir John Jeffcott prematurely fired his pistol fatally wounding Dr. Hennis..who did not return fire. Now, in Jeffcott's defence we do not know what type of pistol/pistols were being used? It may just be that Jeffcott was not accustomed to using a pistol with a "hair" or " "set" triggers ?
This was a device whereby the tumbler and trigger were set to such a fine degree that even shaking or jerking the pistol could result in ignition and discharge of the projectile. Indeed the trigger is not pulled but merely touched or squeezed. At this period 1833 both men may have been armed with the percussion form of ignition not flintlock and the former has a much more rapid ignition with less hang fire which could have given our Doctor more time to evade the on-coming projectile? This is a bit of a red herring as both these forms of ignition could have utilised "set" or "hair" triggers.
Dr. Hennis was a highly respected physician who graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1825. He had a major influence in averting serious loss of life during the cholera outbreak in Exeter in 1832 and therefore was seen as a pillar of society. His death by duel was seen as a tragic loss of a talented and respected man.
Sir John William Jeffcott was initially an Admiralty Court Judge but went on to be the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone. His final position in law was in the newly formed state of South Australia He died by drowning on the River Murray, when a passenger, on an overloaded whaleboat which capsized in rough seas on the 12th December 1837.
As was normal in duelling issues a lady was involved. In this case Sir John was jilted by his fiancée and it was believed that Dr. Hennis was responsible in casting aspersions on the character of Sir John. Hence a duel ensued.
Reasons and styles of duelling are manifold and duels with pistols have been actioned through dispute's over land ownership, the ownership of oyster beds and arguments over the results of card games or horse races. In France one of the most bizarre duels was fought when two men took to hot air balloons armed with blunderbusses resulting in one of the combatants being killed following the crashing of his balloon into a house following the destruction of the canopy by lead shot.
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