Robert Lyon (30 December 1812 – 13 June 1833), the son of a British officer, was said to be the last fatality in Canadian duelling history, shot by a fellow law student, John Wilson in 1833. Lyon was born in

Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and River Don, Aberdeenshire, Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography ...

, Scotland in 1812 and came to Canada along with his family in 1829. Initiated by the 20-year-old Lyon at the urging of his eventual "second" Henri Lelievre, the

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

was held over the love of local schoolteacher Elizabeth Hughes, and occurred above the

Tay Canal The Tay Canal is the portion of the Tay River (Ontario), Tay River in the eastern Ontario region, providing a connection between the town of Perth, Ontario, Perth and the Rideau Canal at Beveridge Bay on Lower Rideau Lake. The canal is in len ...

outside

Perth, Ontario Perth is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Tay River (Ontario), Tay River, southwest of Ottawa, and is the seat of Lanark County. History The town was established as a military settlement in 1816, shortly after the War of ...

. After Lyon's death, Wilson and his second Samuel Robertson were both charged with murder in

Brockville, Ontario Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It is included with Leeds and ...

, though acquitted. Two years later he married Elizabeth Hughes and they had three children together; he went on to become a judge and Member of Parliament before dying in 1869. The lawyer Wilson had studied under, James Boulton, left Perth after locals began claiming that he had goaded his understudy to push Lyon into the duel, since he was the understudy of Boulton's rival Thomas Radenhurst. Lyon's second, Henri Lelievre, fled the country fearing that some also considered him responsible for the duel, since he had encouraged a second round after both had missed their first shot. He is believed to have died in Australia. In 1996,

Susan Code Susan is a feminine given name, the usual English version of Susanna or Susannah. All are versions of the Hebrew name Shoshana, which is derived from the Hebrew ''shoshan'', meaning ''lotus flower'' in Egyptian, original derivation, and several ...

wrote ''A Matter of Honour'' , and a year later two students of

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

oversaw the production of an independent film by the same name, telling the story of the duel. On his 1973 album ''Stompin' Tom and the Hockey Song'',

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, Order of Canada, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country music, country and folk music, folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited wi ...

released the song "The Last Fatal Duel," written by Freddy Dixon, detailing the battle (though accidentally referring to Lyon as ''William'', not ''Robert''). Lyon's tombstone in the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

cemetery in Perth reads ::''Friendship Offering,'' ::''Dedicated'' ::''To the Memory of'' ::''ROBERT LYON,'' ::''(Student-at-law)'' ::''He fell'' ::''in mortal combat'' ::''13 June 1833'' ::''in the 20th year'' ::''of his Age'' ::''Requieseat in Pace.'' Other sources, however, agree that it was the last duel in Ontario which was then known as

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

, but not the last fatal duel in what is now the country of Canada. For example,

Radio Canada International Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service ("CBC IS"). The broadcasting service was also previously ref ...

and the

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

refer to documents that state that the last fatal duel occurred on 22 May 1838, in Quebec, then known as

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

, between British officer Major Henry Warde and lawyer Robert Sweeney; Warde was wounded and subsequently died.

External links

Site with detailed description of the Lyon-Wilson deadly duel

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Robert 1812 births 1833 deaths Canadian Anglicans Duelling fatalities Pre-Confederation Ontario people Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Deaths by firearm in Ontario People murdered in Ontario People from Inverurie Immigrants to Upper Canada Canadian duellists People murdered in 1833 19th-century murders in Canada