KCLA Annual Dinner and Duel Day celebration 10th March 2023

Event Date: 10 March 2023 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm

Event Venue: Vintners Hall, 68 Upper Thames Street, London, EC4V 3BG

Tagged:

2023
Annual Event

The 2023 Annual Dinner, incorporating the Duel Day Celebration, was held in the historic Vintners’ Hall on 10th March 2023. The Hall, much of which remains in its original state, was built and in use by 1671 after the original hall burnt down in the Great Fire of London. Alumni and their guests were able to enjoy the splendid interior including carvings in the Livery Hall and Court Room along with a fine staircase. Alumni who booked early were given a private tour of the treasures and smaller rooms.

The attraction of the venue, along with the draw of the distinguished war historian Sir Max Hastings CBE FKC as our guest speaker, filled the Hall to capacity, making it the best attended dinner in recent times. Sir Max gave an intriguing insight into his earlier life as a war reporter, particularly his experience as one of the first people to enter Port Stanley as an embedded journalist with the British Task Force which liberated the Falklands in 1982. Two of the young alumni who attended the dinner played the leading roles in the re-enactment of the duel.

Duel Day is a commemoration of the duel fought between the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea over the founding of King’s College London. The duel itself was fought on 21 March 1829 and the anniversary is celebrated annually around this date.

The duel came about because of religious differences between the Duke of Wellington and the 9th Earl of Winchilsea, George Finch-Hatton. Winchilsea had denounced Wellington’s support for Catholic emancipation. He accused the Duke of using his role in founding King’s as a way of hiding the ‘introduction of popery’ into the country (although founded as an Anglican institution, King’s was intending to award degrees to Catholics and other non-Anglicans). Wellington promptly challenged him to single combat to defend his honour and the College’s name.