Buckle up, because this is the story of Thomas Walbeoff Cecil. I’m not sure how to fit this story into my dissertation chapter, but I feel morally obligated to correct the misconceptions about Cecil and his duel with Captain Stackpool, so here we are.

This is a story of two duels, gossip, and weird rules. Cecil was a promising young midshipman in the Navy when he was captured and sent to live in Verdun with the other officers and 'detenu' prisoners of war.

Edward Boys, a fellow midshipman records that in July 1807, Cecil came to him and asked if he would be willing to join him in an escape attempt. Boys was unable to go at that time, but Cecil found another willing officer by the name of Gordon.

The two had to 1st have their parole privileges revoked, so that any escape attempt would be made while actually imprisoned and. Often, prisoners would do this by failing to report for required appels, or by missing curfew. Cecil and Gordon chose to ‘behave ill’ at the theatre.

French records make note of a ‘Cecile’ who bought a bust of Napoleon and smashed it in front of the inhabitants of Verdun. This was apparently not the usual theatre shenanigans. For this crime, Cecil was to be sent to the punishment depot in the citadel of Bitche.

In preparation, C & G were locked up in the guardhouse, however, in their opinions, this was insufficient for their purposes of having their parole privileges truly revoked.

After all, the guardhouse is a room, and not a proper cell. So they waited until they were given a cell before attempting their escape plan.

Cecil and Gordon effected their escape during the march to Bitche, and Boys and his friends soon received word that they were on the run. Cecil, Gordon, and a 3rd prisoner who impulsively joined their escape, doubled back to Verdun. There they met with Boys and got some supplies.

Cecil and Gordon’s high spirits at making their escape did not last long, and three days later they got into an argument over money and ended up separating. Both Gordon and Cecil were successful in their escapes. They met in London that November.

Cecil was keen to reconcile, but Gordon refused. A quarrel almost broke out again, but the two were bound over to keep the peace. Gordon was promoted a few days later, and immediately wrote Cecil to challenge him again, because priorities.

They duelled, and Boys records that Cecil stood and allowed Gordon to fire, before firing in the air himself (this is called deloping). Apparently, this experience made them into great friends ‘united in harmony and goodwill’. …Men are so strange.

Three years later, Cecil, now a lieutenant was serving under Captain Stackpool (also written as Stackpole and Stackpoole, take your pick), when he made an ill considered comment. Cecil said that Stackpool ‘drew too long a bow’ for C’s liking.

Stackpool got wind of the comment, and it really ticked him off, because three, or four depending which source you read, years later when he next saw Cecil he challenged him to a duel.

By this time it was 1814 & both were on station in Jamaica. Stackpool had an excellent reputation as a crack shot, so even though Cecil cld not remember making the comment, he felt obligated to accept the challenge rather than apologize, lest an apology be construed as cowardice.

This was a common difficulty, if you were challenged by someone with a reputation for being a good shot, it pretty much meant the duel would have to occur, regardless of the seriousness or lack thereof of the provocation.

Stackpool was evidently able to ‘knock off a fowl’s head with a pistol at twelve paces’. This phrase appears in multiple sources, no Idea where the quote originated, but it’s an interesting system of measurement.

Unclear if he’s knocking the heads off with bullets, or is just throwing the pistol at them.

It’s definitely bullets, but I like the picture of him chucking pistols at birds like a champion axe thrower.

Stackpool and Cecil duel, and Stackpool dies. Here’s where it gets weird.

This duel became famous and its mentioned in several places. Conversations of Lord Byron, a book published in 1824, and basically a sycophantic record of random stuff Byron talked out of his ass, shows how the duel was remembered.

‘I have been concerned in many duels as a second’ states Byron, ‘the best marksmen at target are not the surest in the field. Cecil and Stackpoole’s affair proved this. They fought after a quarrel of three years, during which they were practising daily.’

Then he mentions some more weird stuff about Stackpool shooting birds, but this is not important.

‘He had every wish to kill his antagonist’ he goes on, ‘ but he received his death blow from Cecil, who fired rather first, or rather the quickest shot fo the two. All he said when falling was, “D–n it, have I missed him?”’

It’s important to understand that 1st, practising for duelling was generally frowned upon. Practising to kill someone was distasteful. However, it happened ALL THE TIME. Everybody was practicing. The pistol makers had shooting ranges, and their clientele regularly went there.

In fact, Byron regularly went to practice, so he’s being a real hypocrite. (Who here is surprised, because I am not).

Captain Rees Howell Gronow, a regular client of the pistol manufacturer Manton writes in Reminiscences and Recollections; ‘Byron used to go and try his hand, as he said at a wafer.

Wedderburn Webster was present when the poet, intensely delighted with his own skill, boasted to Joe Manton that he considered himself the best shot in London.’

Joe Manton delivered this sick burn; ‘No, my Lord, not the best, but your shooting today was respectable.’ (This story is given in Atkinson’s ‘The British Duelling Pistol, pg. 75)

But this accusation of regular practicing was repeated, because in the November 20, 1824 issue of the Literary Chronicle, someone wrote a letter. Now, first, it’s important to note that shooting practice was not a regular ship board activity.

By which I mean shooting at wafers to practice for duelling. Practice for battle is different.

If you have seen Master and Commander, you will know why. Not a good idea to fire pistols on board a moving vessel unless you intend to actually kill someone…like an enemy. And, most duels among naval officers occurred on land.

1. Because that’s where naval officers from different ships were most likely to meet. But also, even duels between men on the same ship usually required making the effort to conduct the affair on land.

2. Because fairness was so important to a properly conducted duel, a lot of attention was paid to the terrain.

Basically, they weren’t spending their time on board ship doing daily target practice with duelling pistols. It just wouldn’t have been particularly good practice.

Anyway, this letter. This letter is indignant at the smear campaign against the character of Cecil. According to this letter, Cecil has never fired at a target in the whole of his life.

He’s never fought in a duel, abhors the though of fighting in a duel, & in the case of the duel with Stackpole, had to be instructed not to stand full on by Stackpool himself. If he had been practised @ duelling, he would have known to stand side on, so that his arm protected him

The letter writer has no idea where Stackpole’s dying words, about missing Cecil, came from, because instructions to this effect were the only communication between the two once they met on the duelling grounds.

This claim that Cecil had never fought a duel, nor knew how to fight one, seems strange given that Cecil had fought with Gordon years before. But this claim is based on conversations the writer had with Cecil.

Cecil became ill only a short time after the duel took place, and died within six days. The letter attributes his death to physical exhaustion, but also a broken heart, at ‘being the cause of death of one of his fellow creatures.’

Boys also writes about Cecil’s death. ‘Worldly honours held no longer any charms for one who felt that he had slain his fellow creature; he mourned, he repined in silence; till, at length, inconsolable and unable to bear up against the poignant anguish of this deep affliction,

He fell a disconsolate victim to his own sensibility.’

However, it is Stackpole’s remark, and the accusation of daily practice that are recorded by two different duelling manuals, one published in 1836, the other in 1868.

Published eulogies for Captain Cecil universally remark upon his precocious talent, and good prospects in the navy. But, more importantly, they also make note of his good heart. Byron didn’t know Cecil or Stackpole.

But, it seems that it is his account that has had the most staying power in how Stackpole and Cecil and their duel are remembered.

All of this to say, Byron is a bit of a twat. Gossip is often recorded as fact, and should be taken into account during research. And, finally, duels have some weird rules that people only sometimes followed, so take that “Irish duelling code” with a hefty grain of salt.