James Agar (1713–1769)

He was a litigious and hot-tempered man, whose bitter feud with a rival political faction led to his being killed in a duel.

[2] From 1747 to 1760, he was MP for Gowran in County Kilkenny, having in effect inherited the seat, which had been held by his father and his brother Henry Agar.

The following year he was killed in a duel with Henry Flood, who was both a bitter political rival for control of the borough of Callan, County Kilkenny, and a personal enemy.

[1]At the insistence of the Agar family Flood was prosecuted for murder, but was found guilty of manslaughter, and spared a prison sentence, as according to the code of the time he had acted honourably.

The case, which aroused huge public interest, did no harm to Flood's reputation: indeed, the episode is said to have increased the popularity of duels, due partly to the high social standing of the protagonists.