Ferryhills

Situated within an area of rough ground N of North Queensferry known as Ferryhills there is a commemorative stone that has been erected to mark the spot of the last duel fought in Fife. The small whinstone pillar measures about 0.65m in height by 0.33m in breadth and 0.22m in thickness. Flush with the turf immediately to the E is a small brass plate secured by screws into a concrete pad. It bears the inscription ‘It is on record that Captain Wm Gurley of Petershope, St. Vincent, died at this spot on 30th October, 1824, having been fatally wounded in a pistol duel with Mr Westall, the last fought in Fife – North Queensferry Community Council 1987’.

Information provided by Joan Leggett to the SVG Ancestry website (http://svgancestry.com/index.php/gurley-of-st-vincent) states that the Gurley family owned the ‘Peter’s Hope’ estate in St Patrick parish, St Vincent, which was established about 1765. William was born in 1783 and inherited his father’s St Vincent properties in 1810. At that time he was stationed with the 51st Aberdeen Militia at Berwick-upon-Tweed (1810-11) and was married there on 21 April 1813 to Elizabeth MARSH. In 1824 the family moved to Edinburgh so that Gurley could more easily attend to matters concerning his estate in St Vincent. On 26 October of that year, when dining with a Mr Barr in the Black Bull Inn, Edinburgh, Gurley argued with John Waistell, a lace representative from London who had previously refused to pay Gurley money owed to him after the St Leger horse race the previous month. A fight subsequently ended in the pair agreeing to a duel to be fought near Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, early on 30 October, but this was cancelled as police were seen in the area. A second attempt, which was successful, resulted in Gurley being killed at Ferryhills. He is buried in Inverkeithing churchyard. A notice of his death appeared in the December 1824 issue (page 768) of the Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, GG) 3 April 2012.