a decade defending his inheritance from rival claimants, most famously from James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton. In 1707, he became a member of the Kit-Cat Club, the pre-eminent Whig political and literary association of the period. Also in 1707, Mohun began building his new country house, Gawsworth New Hall. In 1712, two years after Mohun's Whig party had been heavily defeated in an election, the Duke of Hamilton gained the post of special envoy to Paris. Also at this time, Mohun's legal dispute with Hamilton over his inheritance of the Macclesfield estate was going badly. Shortly before Hamilton's scheduled departure for France, Mohun challenged him to a duel which was fought on 15 November in Hyde Park. Many of Hamilton's supporters believed (on the report of Hamilton's second) that the Duke had been killed after slaying Mohun by Mohun's second, General George MacCartney. The only satisfactory evidence was that the principals had mortally wounded each other, both dying at the scene. Macartney fled and was charged, but acquitted by his peers on his return from France, and the conclusion was that Mohun had wounded Hamilton mortally before dying. Legacy William Makepeace Thackeray fictionalised Mohun's duels in his novel The History of Henry Esmond. Mohun and Hamilton suffered such horrific injuries that the government passed legislation banning the use of seconds in such duels. Also as a result swords were replaced as the weapons of choice in duels by the pistol, which tended to result in shorter and less bloody fights. Footnotes References Andrew, Donna (1980). "The code of honour and its critics: the opposition to duelling in England, 1700-1850" in Social History 5.3. Forsythe, Robert S. (1928). A Noble Rake: the life of Charles, fourth lord Mohun; being a study in the historical background of Thackeray's "Henry Esmond". Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press. Kiernan, V.G. (1989). The duel in European history: honour and the reign of aristocracy. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Stater, Victor (1999). Duke Hamilton Is Dead!: A Story of Aristocratic Life and Death in Stuart Britain London, Hill & Wang, . Stater, Victor (2000). High Life, Low Morals: The Duel that Shook Stuart Society. Pimlico. 4 Duelling fatalities 1675 births 1712 deaths Members of the Kit-Kat Club