Description: A two page signed autograph note, Wellesley Pole declares his surprise at being challenged a second time by Mount Cashell and reluctantly accepts his Lordship's challenge; together with a copy in his own hand of Stephen Moore's note challenging Wellesley Pole and a transcript of the reply. (2)
Note: The cause of the duel was both men's interest in Catherine Long, the richest commoner in England. They exchanged words at an assembly at Lady Hawarden's on August 6, 1811. After the ball, Moore challenged Wellesley-Pole to a duel on Wimbledon Common.. When they met at Wimbledon, their seconds settled the matter amicably. Moore then wrote a letter to The Morning Post to say that Wellesley-Pole had apologised. Wellesley-Pole denied that he had apologised and requested a new duel on Hounslow Heath. This time they met, fired, and missed. They left on good terms, but the duel had unfortunate consequences. Wellesley-Pole seems to have impressed Catherine Long by his willingness to fight and shortly afterwards she agreed to marry him.The marriage was a spectacular disaster. Wellesley-Pole had affairs, spent all of Long's money, and was eventually denied access to their children. Long died young, and Wellesley-Pole resumed a life of debauchery as he sank into poverty. His obituary in The Morning Chronicle described him as follows: "A spendthrift, a profligate, and a gambler in his youth, he became debauched in his manhood... redeemed by no single virtue, adorned by no single grace, his life gone out even without a flicker of repentance". Lord Byron even referred to the second duel in his poem The Waltz: Hail, spirit-stirring Waltz! - beneath whose banners A modern hero fought for modish manners; On Hounslow's Heath to rival Wellesley's fame, Cock't - fired - and missed his man - but gained his aim.