 Wellington had recently played a central role in securing Catholic Emancipation and Winchilsea, an opponent of emancipation, feared that he planned to turn King's College London into a 'Catholic Seminary' as the new college was to place no religious test for entry.Early in 1829 Winchilsea publicly challenged Wellington about the Duke's simultaneous support for the Anglican King's College and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.The result was a duel in Battersea Fields on 21 March.