Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (né Wesley; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, soldier, and Tory politician who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who won and ended the Napoleonic Wars when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
"Duke of Wellington" redirects here. For other uses, see Duke of Wellington (disambiguation).
The Duke of Wellington
- George IV
- William IV
The Viscount Hill
George IV
Robert Peel
The Viscount Melbourne
Robert Peel
The Viscount Melbourne
The Viscount Melbourne
Himself
The Viscount Goderich
The Earl Grey
14 September 1852 (aged 83)
Walmer, Kent, England
British
Arthur Wellesley
- Tory (until 1834)
- Conservative (from 1834)
- Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington (father)
- Anne Hill-Trevor (mother)
1787–1852
Wellesley was born into the Protestant Ascendancy in County Meath or Dublin in Ireland (then known as the Kingdom of Ireland). He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive lords lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796 and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye in 1803.
Wellesley rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was made Duke of Wellington. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian Army under Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellington's battle record is exemplary; he ultimately participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career.
Wellington is famous for his adaptive defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against numerically superior forces while minimising his own losses. He is regarded as one of the greatest commanders in the modern era,[2] and many of his tactics and battle plans are still studied in military academies around the world. After the end of his active military career, he returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as a member of the Tory party from 1828 to 1830 and for a little less than a month in 1834. He oversaw the passage of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, while he opposed the Reform Act 1832. He continued as one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement and remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death.
Early life[edit]
Family[edit]
Wellesley was born into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family, belonging to the Protestant Ascendancy, beginning life as The Hon. Arthur Wesley.[3] Wellesley was born the son of Anne, Countess of Mornington, and Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. His father was himself the son of Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington, and had a short career in politics representing the constituency of Trim in the Irish House of Commons before succeeding his father as Baron Mornington in 1758. Garret Mornington was also an accomplished composer, and in recognition of his musical and philanthropic achievements was elevated to the rank of Earl of Mornington in 1760.[4] Wellesley's mother was the eldest daughter of Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, after whom Wellesley was named.[5] Through Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, Wellesley was a descendant of Edward I.[6]
Wellesley was the sixth of nine children born to the Earl and Countess of Mornington. His siblings included Richard, Viscount Wellesley, later 1st Marquess Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington, and Baron Maryborough.[7]
Birth date and place[edit]
The exact date and location of Wellesley's birth is not known; however, biographers mostly follow the same contemporary newspaper evidence, which states that he was born on 1 May 1769, the day before he was baptised in St. Peter's Church on Aungier Street in Dublin.[8][9] However, Ernest Lloyd states "registry of St. Peter's Church, Dublin, shows that he was christened there on 30 April 1769". His baptismal font was donated to St. Nahi's Church in Dundrum, Dublin, in 1914.[10]
Wellesley may have been born at his parents' townhouse, Mornington House at 6 Merrion Street (the address later became known as 24 Upper Merrion Street),[11] Dublin, which now forms part of the Merrion Hotel.[12] His mother, Anne, Countess of Mornington, recalled in 1815 that he had been born at 6 Merrion Street.[11]
His family's home at Dangan Castle, Dangan near Summerhill, County Meath has also been purported to have been his birth place.[13][14] In his obituary, published in The Times in 1852, reported that Dangan was unanimously believed to have been the place of his birth, though suggested is was unlikely, but not impossible, that the family had travelled to Dublin for his baptism.[15] A pillar was erected in his honour near Dangan in 1817.[16]
The place of his birth has been much disputed following his death, with Sir. J.D. Burke writing the following in 1873:
Return to Britain[edit]
Meeting Nelson[edit]
In September 1805, Major-General Wellesley was newly returned from his campaigns in India and was not yet particularly well known to the public. He reported to the office of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies to request a new assignment. In the waiting room, he met Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, already a known figure after his victories at the Nile and Copenhagen, who was briefly in England after months pursuing the French Toulon fleet to the West Indies and back. Some 30 years later, Wellington recalled a conversation that Nelson began with him which Wellesley found "almost all on his side in a style so vain and silly as to surprise and almost disgust me".[99] Nelson left the room to inquire who the young general was and, on his return, switched to a very different tone, discussing the war, the state of the colonies, and the geopolitical situation as between equals.[100] On this second discussion, Wellington recalled, "I don't know that I ever had a conversation that interested me more".[101] This was the only time that the two men met; Nelson was killed at his victory at Trafalgar seven weeks later.[99]
Wellesley then served in the abortive Anglo-Russian expedition to north Germany in 1805, taking a brigade to Elbe.[102]
He then took a period of extended leave from the army and was elected as a Tory member of the British parliament for Rye in January 1806.[103][104] A year later, he was elected MP for Newport on the Isle of Wight, and was then appointed to serve as Chief Secretary for Ireland under the Duke of Richmond. At the same time, he was made a privy counsellor.[103] While in Ireland, he gave a verbal promise that the remaining Penal Laws would be enforced with great moderation, perhaps an indication of his later willingness to support Catholic emancipation.[105] Wellesley was described as having been "handsome, very brown, quite bald and a hooked nose".[106]
