Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

EARLY LIFE 

Arthur Wellesley was born on May 1, 1769 at 6 Lepper Merrion Street, Dublin, Ireland as The Hon. Arthur Wesley.

The Duke of Wellington wearing Field Marshal’s uniform

His family originally spelt their name "Wesley" but changed it to "Wellesley" to disassociate themselves from evangelical Methodism.

He was the third of five surviving sons (fourth otherwise) of Anne and Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. Arthur's mother was the eldest daughter of The 1st Viscount Dunganno. His father was the Professor of Music at Trinity College, Ireland.

Arthur was a rather delicate withdrawn child whose greatest love was playing the violin. He described himself as a child as “dreamy, shy and idle”.

Arthur attended Samuel Whyte's Academy at Grafton Street Dublin and Brown's School in Chelsea when in London.

Arthur enrolled at Eton College at the age of 12 where he failed to shine, got into fights and, in later life, refused to give money to school collections.

He did so badly at Eton that his mother withdrew him three years later.

In 1785, a shortage of family funds due to his father's death, forced Arthur and his mother to move to Brussels.

Arthur attended a French military academy at Angers in France against the wishes of his widowed mother who believed he had no talent for soldiering.

MILITARY CAREER 

Wellesley joined the British Army aged 18 as an ensign in the 73rd Regiment of Foot. His first assignment was serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland between 1787 and 1793.

He was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India. In 1799 Wellesley fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam.

Wellesley as Lieutenant Colonel, aged c. 26, in the 33rd Regiment. 

Wellesley was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore (South India) in 1799 following the battle. As a newly appointed major-general, he fought the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye September 23, 1803.

At Assaye, Wellesley was being escorted through a large enemy force by his cavalry. Things went wrong; the general was unhorsed while the cavalry charged on. It was probably the closest Wellesley came to death on a battlefield. However he achieved a notable victory at Assaye and on his return home Wellesley was knighted.

The Battle of Assaye was Wellesley's first major victory and one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War, and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

Major General Wellesley commanding his troops at the Battle of Assaye

After five years as the governor of Mysore Sir Arthur Wellesley was recalled from India in 1805.

In 1808 Wellesley was sent to Portugal to lead an army against the French. He rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.

At the Battle of Talavera fought in late July 1809, an Anglo-Spanish army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Cuesta fought the French some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid. The French advanced in three columns and were repulsed several times by Wellesley.

Following his victory at Talavera, Wellesley was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom on August 26, 1809 as Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington.

During the Peninsular War, a detachment of energetic but inexperienced officers arrived. Wellington observed "I don't know what effect they will have on the enemy but by God, they frighten me."

Throughout the Peninsula War Wellington adopted defensive tactics, which aroused much criticism in Britain but eventually brought about the expulsion of the French from Spain after victories at Salamanca and Vitoria in 1813.

Wellington was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria.

During the Hundred Days in 1815, Wellington commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian Army under Blücher met Napoleon at Waterloo. The battle took place on a field two miles out of the town.

At Waterloo Wellington was on his horse for 18 hours giving his orders just behind the front line and much of the time in direct view of the enemy. He refused to allow a gunner to aim at Napoleon informing him that Generals had better things to do than shooting at each other.

It was a hard fought battle which Wellington came close to losing on two occasions. As the sun set at 8.15, the Duke gave an order for a general advance and won the day. After his victory where many French troops were left for dead, Wellington said "My heart is broken, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."

Wellington survived the mayhem without a scratch. He said of the outcome of Waterloo to Thomas Creevy "It has been a damned serious business. Blucher and I have lost 30,000 men. It has been a damned nice thing- the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life".

Wellington at Waterloo, by Robert Alexander Hillingford

POLITICAL CAREER 

In 1790 Wellesley was elected as an independent MP for Trim in the Irish House of Commons, a position he held until 1797.

At the end of his active military career, Wellington embarked upon a political career entering Lord Liverpool’s government in 1818 as Master-General of Ordinance.

After Lord Goderich resigned over a dispute in finance committee in 1828. Wellington became the Tory Prime Minister.

As Prime Minister, Wellington's attempts to rush through parliament the emancipate the Irish caught the ears of the fanatical Earl of Winchelsea. He accused Wellington of introducing popery. The Duke responded with a challenge and they met in Battersea Fields in March 1829. Wellington fired wide. The Earl fired in the air and apologised for his uncharitable language.

Wellington was an unpopular Prime Minister due to his opposition to parliamentary reform. In 1830 he resigned in the face of overwhelming pressure for parliamentary reform.

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by John Jackson, 1830–31

He was briefly Prime Minister again for a little less than a month in 1834.

Wellington continued as one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement in 1846.
He was featured in Britain's earliest known cartoon in 1832. In Bell's New Weekly Messenger, the Iron Duke moans "o fie fie" at the idea of creating new peers to push the reform bill through the anti-reform House of Lords.

In 1847 Wellington wrote a letter to The Times calling for stronger defences against a possible French invasion. As a result the Chancellor Lord Russell almost doubled income tax from 7d to 1 shilling in a pound.

The following year, Wellington came out of retirement to organise a military force against the Chartists who were demanding universal manhood suffrage, vote by secret ballot in elections and other democratic reforms of the parliamentary system. A large petition had been prepared by the Chartists and a meeting was called to assemble at Kennington Common and then to march to the House of Commons to present it. The protesters were overawed by troops under Duke of Wellington and the procession proved to be a damp squib, which petered out in pelting rain.

BELIEFS 

Wellington's rule number one was to look after his men's stomachs.

An arch Conservative as a politician, the nickname "Iron Duke" originates from Wellington's first period of prime minister when he experienced a high degree of personal and political unpopularity due to his reactionary views.

Wellington disapproved of railways as they allowed the lower orders to move about freely. He warned that trains would encourage “the lower orders to go uselessly wandering about the country”.

He declared that it was England's religion that had made her a nation of honest men.

Once when asked by a vicar what he would like the sermon to be about, Wellington replied “about five minutes”.

Wellington never set foot in Scotland because of a superstition that if he did disaster would befall him.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER 

Wellington was slim, five feet nine inches with wavy brown hair, and brilliant blue eyes.

Wellesley in India, wearing his major-general's uniform. Portrait by Robert Home, 1804.

Wellington was nicknamed "Old Nosey" by his soldiers on account of his prominent hook nose. Such was his fame Wellington's large nose resulted in "duke" becoming a synonym for "nose".

He had walrus-ivory false teeth as a result his face acquired a sunken look.

Wellington was nicknamed "the beau" by his officers, for the perfectly cut civilian clothes he preferred to wear. As a general he wore a trim grey cloak, oilskin cocked hat and neatly buckled boots.

He was the first person to wear Wellington boots (boots that cover the knee). Wellington wore them for going into battle not specifically for a rainy day. It evolved from a military boot that came over a knee into waterproof rubber boots that came up to the knee.

Wellington also owned an oiled cotton umbrella with a concealed sword.

Wellington was independent and self-reliant; he would brush his own clothes and shaved himself. He typified the then-male fashion of manly reticence.

Wellington had a short, stern manner of speaking and stern look, he could be snobbish and self-important and and taciturn.

A common expression of his was "not a twopenny jam".

Wellington had a strong sense of duty; he was called the "Iron Duke" due to his iron will.

A bit of a misery, Wellington was always grumbling about his troops, never praising them even after victory.

Wellington had a deadpan sense of humor; when some French officers, cut to the heart at France'd defeat, turned their backs on wellington at Vienna, an onlooker spoke sympathetically to the snubbed duke. Wellington smiled. "I have seen their backs before, madam," he said.

He was seen laughing at satirical cartoons directed at himself even if he was often hurt by them.

He was sitting in his office one day when a man rushed in crying "I must kill you." Wellington without raising his head from his papers responded "does it have to be today." The intruder looked confused "well they didn't tell me...but soon surely" "Good" said Wellington" A little later then, I'm busy at the moment." The man exited and was immediately seized by the police. He was an escaped lunatic on the rampage.

In later life, Wellington was at times annoying company with his endless boastful reminiscences of every battle he had won.

MARRIAGE 

As a passionate young soldier Wellesley fell for the charms of Catherine "Kitty" Pakenham, the daughter of a minor Irish peer. He proposed to her in 1792 but was turned down because of his poverty and many gambling debts. In a fit of temper Wellesley set fire to his violin.

Kitty Pakenham

He proposed to Kitty again 14 years later after returning back to Britain in triumph from a series of military victories in India. This time she accepted.

The couple were married on April 10, 1806 by Wellesley's clergyman brother Gerald, and after a brief honeymoon, Wellesley returned to England. Kitty followed him and they set up home together in Harley Street.

The couple had little in common; he found Kitty plain and unintelligent and they spent little time together. Though they remained married and had two sons, the pair retained separate bedrooms.

Kitty died of cancer in 1831; despite their generally unhappy relations, which had led to an effective separation, Wellington was said to have been greatly saddened by her death, his one comfort being that after "half a lifetime together, they had come to understand each other at the end."

Wellington - known to have frequented brothels - pursued a string of affairs with British society beauties. He had many affairs and flirtations even inheriting a couple of Napoleon’s mistresses after the removal of their lover.

He retorted “Publish and be damned” in response to Stockdale, the blackmailer who threatened to print the memories of Wellington’s mistress Hariette Wilson. Stockdale did publish, Wellington threatened to sue for libel but the writ never materialised.

The old war horse was cited in a paternity suit in his seventies. Wellington began his last affair at the age of 83.

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS 

Wellesley learned the violin as a boy but gave up after joining the army.

A good sportsman in his younger days Wellesley was a champion wrestler and long jumper.

Wellesley played in the first cricket match played in Ireland in 1792. He was part of an All-England side against a British garrison scoring 5 & 1.

The young Wellesley took nine copies of the bawdy novel Fanny Hill with him to India.

He took home many paintings from the countries he ransacked. Among the paintings he owned were Velazquez’s The Waterseller of Seville and Goya’s equestrian portrait of Wellington.

Wellington built a 90ft long Waterloo gallery at his Apsley House home and filled it with his art collection.

The Duke of Wellington was not a good horse rider; he combined many military victories with many falls.

Wellington was indifferent to food and drink but he was a wine connoisseur.

ANIMALS 

As a teenager, Wellesley owned a white terrier called Vic . His devoted pet pooch accompanied him to India.

Whilst in India, Wellesley hunted antelope. He maintained an establishment of leopards and a state elephant complete with scarlet howdah.

Copenhagen was the Duke of Wellington's war horse, which he most famously rode at the Battle of Waterloo. The half bred chestnut horse was named after the victorious Battle of Copenhagen.

Wellington said of Copenhagen: "There may have been many faster horses, no doubt many handsomer, but for bottom and endurance I never saw this fellow."

Wellington on Copenhagen, painted by Thomas Lawrence.

At Waterloo Wellington escaped danger on at least two occasions due to Copenhagen's big jump. On his return to headquarters at Waterloo village, Wellington dismounted and gave Copenhagen a pat on the back, whereupon the chestnut mare lashed out and very nearly did his master serious injury.

Copenhagen has an honoured grave at Wellington's country pile in Hampshire.

HOMES 

Wellesley's family had settled in Ireland for generations and he grew up at Danagan Castle, the family home near Trim in County Meath.

Dangan Castle (engraving, 1842).

Wellesley's family returned to England in order that the future Duke and his siblings should be bought up without an Irish accent.

The Duke of Wellington paid £263,000 for the magnificent Stratfield Saye estate near Basingstoke in Hampshire in 1817. The money had been given as a gift of thanks from the nation after his Waterloo victory. He installed central heating there, which at the time was an unheard of luxury.

He brought Apsley House in Hyde Park for about £42,000 from his elder brother the Marquees Wellesley in 1817 as he needed a London base from which to pursue his new career in politics. Wellington enlarged it and embellished the walls and ceilings in the ornate Louis XIV style.

Apsley House in 1829, by Thomas H. Shepherd

On the anniversary of Waterloo Wellington used to entertain in Apsley Houses's Long Gallery those officers who had fought with him. It is now Duke of Wellington Museum.

When he became the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington earned the nickname "Iron Duke" after an angry mob, upset by his reactionary views, smashed the windows of Apsley House and forced him to install iron shutters.

Walmer Castle in Deal was the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. On Lord Liverpool's death in 1828, the Duke of Wellington asked King George IV for the post of Lord Warden, primarily because he was seeking the use of Walmer Castle. Wellington took up the post and considered Walmer Castle to be his favourite residence.

HEALTH 

Wellington suffered from deafness from the time he stood too near an exploding gun. A so-called specialist poured caustic down his ears to cure this, however it only bought on recurring headaches as well.

Like his ex-foe Napoleon Wellington suffered from piles.

He claimed the Cheltenham waters cured his "disordered liver."

DEATH AND LEGACY 

Wellington died at Walmer Castle on September 14, 1852 aged 83. He was found to be unwell on that morning and was aided from his military campaign bed and seated in his chair where he passed away.

His very last words in response to his doctor's question "Would you like some tea," were: "Yes, if you please."

Wellington's death was recorded as being due to the after-effects of a stroke culminating in a series of seizures.

One and a half million people thronged the streets of London for Wellington's funeral. An 18 ton funeral carriage carried his body to St Paul’s Cathedral. 12 dray horses pulled his funeral carriage. It was so ornate and heavy that it cracked the streets of London along the route.

The Duke's funeral procession passing through Trafalgar Square

Seven thousand gas lamps were installed at St Paul’s Cathedral for Wellington's funeral to create “an air of solemn and chastened magnificence.”

The Achilles Statue in Hyde Park, London, was erected in 1822 as a memorial to the Duke of Wellington.

New Zealand's capital city Wellington takes its name from him. It was named in November 1840 by the original settlers of the New Zealand Company on the suggestion of the directors of the same, in recognition of the Duke's strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia".

Wellington College, Berkshire, a British public school, was founded by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in his honor in 1859.

Beef in pastry was already a fashionable dish in Europe before it acquired the name "beef Wellington".

His name has been bestowed upon a boot, a  capital city, a cooking apple, a chest of drawers, a term in card playing, a public school and as "Wellingtonia" a coniferous tree.

Wellington was played by Christopher Plummer in the 1970 movie Waterloo.

In 1971 the Bank of England started issuing £5 banknotes featuring the Duke of Wellington.. On the back of the £5 English pound note is a battle scene with a cannon and cavalry. They were withdrawn from circulation on November 29, 1991.

Source Why Do We Say? by Nigel Rees