Saturday morning, 23 March 1829 became a significant day in England; it was the last time a sitting Prime Minister was to be involved in a duel – which took place on the Battersea-fields in the early hours of the morning. The Duke of Wellington, incumbent PM, had challenged Lord Winchilsea to ‘that which a gentleman never refuses’ due to aspersions Winchilsea had made of Wellington’s character. The subject of this quarrel was the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, which was only weeks away from Royal Ascent. Winchilsea had churlishly accused Wellington of disregarding the Protestant constitution and claimed he had disingenuously represented himself as a Protestant Christian, opportunistically, at previous events.[1]
Fortunately, neither Wellington nor Winchilsea lost their lives in this ‘gentleman’s duel’ though it does demonstrate the significant vitriolic tension which existed in England regarding the Catholic cause. Indeed, even after the passage of the 1829 Act which finally granted significant political concessions to Catholics, this tension would continue throughout the rest of the 19th century. The root of these tensions, of course, dates to the Reformation, and was re-emphasised throughout the 16th and 17th centuries through political upheavals which, significantly, saw Catholics and Protestants on opposing grounds. For a time, the Dissenters shared in some of this persecution, through the Acts of Uniformity which caused intolerance for those groups outside of the Established Church; these were first issued under Queen Elizabeth I, and again under Charles II during the Restoration. The Act of Toleration, passed in 1689, relieved certain Dissenters from some of these restrictions, though the Catholics continued to be subject to restrictions and penalties for their faith through the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the aftermath of the Act of Toleration, Catholics were generally able to practice their faith, if it was done privately – out of the public eye. The key was to avoid the attraction of Protestant attention. Penal code was extant which forbade Catholics from various practices, though interestingly these were enforced far more vigorously in Ireland than in England. To name just a few disadvantages: Catholics were not allowed to have their own schools or send their children abroad for Catholic education; they had few rights to property, and – perhaps most importantly – could not legally practice their religion freely. However, as long as English Catholics conducted themselves under the radar, they generally were not prosecuted.[2]
Considering this growing ‘tolerance’ towards Catholicism, a Committee was formed – ‘The Catholic Committee’ in the late 18th century which sought political reform, to officialise the position of Catholics in England. They were instrumental in the 1778 Catholic Relief Act which allowed Irish Catholics to participate in the military. However, this unwittingly drew Protestant attention (indeed, some Catholics were irate, and wished things to be left as they were to avoid a reprisal of persecution). The Gordon Riots, notably inspired by Lord Gordon and his new ‘Protestant Association’ were enraged by this move, resulting in riots, harassment of MPs, and the destruction of Catholic chapels.[3]
Nevertheless, the Catholic cause progressed. In 1791 another relief Act was passed which finally allowed Catholics to freely exercise their religion. Full Catholic emancipation was on the horizon, and – indeed – was expected to arise soon. In 1800 the Act of Union between Ireland and the Great Britain was passed; William Pitt, the Prime Minister, had pledged emancipation as part of this deal. This was an attractive offer to Ireland, comprised mainly of Catholics at this time, who suffered strict enforcement under the anti-Catholic penal codes. However, the Protestant ascendancy rejected this pledge, and Catholic emancipation was delayed…until 1829.[4]
The cause of this delay was not likely due solely to one factor. Firstly, of course, you had the Protestant objections, as noted above. Significant fear existed amongst both Established Church and Dissenting Protestants that permitting Catholicism posed risks for their own faith; recollections of periods of Protestant persecution, such as under Charles II and Queen Mary, made Protestants severely apprehensive, lest Catholics should progress too significantly. However, sympathies were also awakened by anti-religiosity of the French Revolution and the myriads of Catholics who fled to Britain for protection during this period.[5]
Another closely related issue was that of nationalism; concessions made to Catholics were believed to violate the Protestant Constitution. Indeed, this was the accusation thrown at Prime Minister Wellington by Winchilsea, in the opening story. Significant to this concern, was the authority of the Pope in the structure of the Catholic religion; he was seen as authoritative not only over spiritual matters, but also over all civil issues. This led to the Catholic Association claiming that while the first was true, the second they would happily concede to the English monarch.
This leads to the third cause of delay, namely the internal divisions amongst Catholics themselves. Numerous Catholics disagreed with the ‘concessions’ being offered by the Catholic Association arguing that they were compromising the Catholic Faith. Notable were issues such as: requiring Catholics to take a modified ‘oath’, assuring that the Pope had no civil supremacy, the English monarch’s right to veto the Pope’s Bishop appointments, and the naming of English Catholics as ‘Protesting Catholic Dissenters.’ On-going debate on these issues continued between those Catholics such as Charles Butler, who advocated for compromise and toleration, and John Milner who adamantly opposed these concessions. Even after the Act was passed in 1829, many of the second group still believed they had fallen prey to compromise.[6]
However, despite this growing tolerance and its culmination in the 1829 Act, tensions still continued throughout the 19th century. Protestant arguments of ‘papal aggression’ were issued towards Catholics, as their group experienced substantial growth in the 1830s and 40s. This was unhelpfully furthered by the Oxford Movement which sought to increase Catholic sensibilities of the Anglican Church led by Henry Newman who eventually converted to Catholicism. Some Protestants saw this as evidence of a conspiracy to restore Catholicism as the national church in England.[7]
Furthermore, social persecution of the Catholics continued; a plethora of tracts and pamphlets were generated which characterised them as deluded and superstitious. Various restrictions were still imposed; the right to matriculate prominent universities in England was not granted until 1871 under the Universities Tests Act; and it wasn’t until as recently as 2013 that the Succession to the Crown Act was issued to permit a sitting monarch to marry a Catholic.[8]
By Angela Platt. Angela is a PhD researcher in the History Department at Royal Holloway and a Citizens Project intern.
[1] Brian Dolphin, ‘Gentlemanly Satisfaction: The Wellington-Winchilsea Duel of 1829’, Fontanus, IX (1996), 59–76; ‘Duel between the Duke of Wellington and Lord Winchilsea, London’, Sussex Advertiser, 23 March 1829.
[2] Denis Gwynn, The Struggle for Catholic Emancipation (1750-1829) (London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1928); Catholic Culture in Early Modern England, ed. by Ronald Corthell (Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007); Francis Young, English Catholics and the Supernatural, 1553-1829, Catholic Christendom, 1300-1700 (Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2013).
[3] Gwynn; Young; Brian Carter, ‘Controversy and Conciliation in the English Catholic Enlightenment, 1790-1840’, Enlightenment and Dissent, 7 (1988), 3–24.
[4] Leonard B. Wurthman, ‘The Militant‐moderate Agitator: Daniel O’Connell and Catholic Emancipation in Ireland’, Communication Quarterly, 30.3 (1982), 225–31 <https://doi.org/10.1080/01463378209369453>.
[5] Michael A. Mullett, Catholics in Britain and Ireland, 1558 – 1829, Social History in Perspective (Basingstoke: Macmillan [u.a.], 1998).
[6] Carter; Young.
[7] Michael Wheeler, The Old Enemies: Catholic and Protestant in Nineteenth-Century English Literature and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); Cardinal Wiseman, An Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English People on the Subject of the Catholic Hierarchy (London: Thomas Richardson and Son, 1850).
[8] Wheeler; ‘Universities Tests Act 1871’ <http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/34-35/26> [accessed 19 January 2019]; Expert Participation, ‘Succession to the Crown Act 2013’ <http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/20/contents> [accessed 19 January 2019].
