The last Fatal Duel In Canada: Twisted Love

The last fatal duel in Upper Canada was instigated by a twisted love story and fought over the dishonor of a woman.

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It’s hard to believe two friends would get to the point where they wanted to kill each other but love can make a person do regrettable things to impress the desired one.



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John Wilson and Robert Lyon had both come to Perth, Ontario, Canada, to study law. They came from totally different backgrounds. John Wilson was a country boy who had to support himself while Robert Lyon, the son of a Scottish officer in the British army was a handsome athlete with connections.

Perth already was an established military settlement by 1833. It was a village of officers and immigrants whose social classes divided the population. It was named after a town and river in Scotland and many Scottish and Irish immigrants settled there.

It was in Perth, John Wilson met Robert Lyon and a young school teacher, Elizabeth Hughes. Wilson was smitten with the young maiden but she rejected his advances. After Elizabeth’s seemingly brush off, the lovelorn Wilson left Perth for Bytown.

Elizabeth Hughes’s Honor Is In Question

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The courtship of Elizabeth Hughes was taken up by Robert Lyon’s new pal, a ‘devil may care’ Henry leLievre.

The two smart alecs, Lyon and LeLeive, took Miss Hughes on a date where it got around town that Lyon put his arms around her in an inappropriate manner.

Still mooning over Elizabeth, Wilson found out what the pair were up to and furiously wrote a letter to a friend in Perth stating that Lyon should be confronted for his actions.

Robert Lyon was told about the letter.

He shrugged it off saying,

“It was joke just to make Wilson jealous.”

Wilson did not see anything funny about the object of his affection, the young school teacher from England, Elizabeth Hughes, being disrespected. He stewed about it until he met up with his former friend again.

By 1833 the population of Perth was steady rising with the influx of military personal, immigrants and veterans from the war of 1812. There were about 350 people by 1830 and possibly a few hundred more at the time of the duel.

In a small town it didn’t take long to run into each other. The two men met on the streets of Perth and got into a fist fight. The athletic Lyon knocked Wilson to the ground and bloodied his face. A shaken Wilson asked his former friend if they could work things out, but Lyon refused.

Wilson, feeling a need to save some dignity and gain the respect of the town, challenged Lyon to a duel. Lyon accepted and the two men agreed to a pistol duel on the morning of June 13.

The Duel

The duel took place across the Scotch Line on the outskirts of town with Wilson accompanied by his “second”, Simon Robertson, and Lyon accompanied by his pal Henry LeLievre. The duelling pistol set was acquired from a local store.

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Wilson and Lyon met as heavy rain soaked the field by the Tay canal near what is now South Street.

The first shot was fired but both parties had missed. Wilson and Lyon both said they would like to reconcile, but Henry LeLievre would not hear of it and he re-loaded Lyon’s pistol. Lyon levelled his pistol at Wilson who fired, his bullet piercing Lyon’s right breast, perforating his lungs.

By June 13, 1833, the handsome, athletic Robert Lyon, 20, was dead. He fell fatally to the ground when the bullet from 23-year-old John Wilson’s pistol entered into his lungs.

Laden with regret, John Wilson turned himself in to the local authorities.

A trial was held in Brockville where Wilson acted as his own lawyer and his passionate self-defence resulted in his acquittal.

After Wilson’s Acquittal

Wilson left Perth the next year to open a law practice in London, Ont. With him was the young school teacher formerly from England named Elizabeth Hughes.

They married and started a family. It seems Elizabeth Hughes’s feelings for Wilson miraculously changed after the duel. Perhaps a man who won a duel was much more appealing.

Wilson would later become judge of the Superior Court and be elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province.

Today, the pistols of the last duel reside in a small display case at the local Perth Museum where a small card explains their significance.

Although this last fatal duel resulted in the unfortunate death of the young gregarious Robert Lyon; the survivor, John Wilson, got the woman of his heart.

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If you are interested in more history on duelling, check out [Here](https://steemit.com/history/@redheadpei/the-last-fatal-duel-the-two-georges-5bf9c54732cc4) for my previous post on the last fatal duel in New Maryland, New Brunswick, Canada.

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