Wendy's founder Dave Thomas (July 2, 1932 – January 8, 2002) dropped out of high school but picked up his GED in 1993. His GED class voted him Most Likely to Succeed.
Before he founded Wendy's, Dave Thomas worked for Kentucky Fried Chicken ending up as a Regional Director. He is credited with inventing the famous red and white KFC bucket, and advising Colonel Sanders to appear in his own commercials.
Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy's restaurant on November 15, 1969 in Columbus, Ohio.
Wendy's "old fashioned" burgers were inspired by Thomas's trips to Kewpee Hamburgers in his home town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, which sold square patties.
Wendy's is named after Dave Thomas' daughter, Melinda—she couldn't pronounce Rs and Ls as a kid, calling herself “Wenda.”
Dave Thomas regretted using his daughter's name. Not long before he died he told his daughter: "I should've just named it after myself, because it put a lot of pressure on you."
The first Wendy's franchisee, L.S. Hartzog, signed an agreement for Indianapolis, Indiana in August 1972.
A single Dutch snack restaurant holds the registered name Wendy's since 1988 in the Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg) region. This has hindered Wendy's attempts to branch out in Europe, even after Wendy's (US) went to court to try to get the trademark registration dropped.
Wendy's moved its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006.
Of the total of 7,240+ locations, 6,825 restaurants are franchised, and 92% of the system-wide restaurants are located in North America.
There are no Wendy's in Europe due to a local Dutch snackbar owner owning the Wendy's trademark in Europe. Since the year 2000, Wendy's has been embroiled in a legal war with the Dutch Wendy's, attempting to acquire a European trademark. Dutch courts, however, side with Dutch Wendy's every time.
Dave Thomas insisted his favorite meal was a Wendy's Single with cheese, mustard, pickle and onion, fries, a frosty dairy dessert and a Diet Coke.
Dave Thomas appeared in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the Wendy's chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other company founder in television history.
As a high-school dropout, Dave Thomas was afraid his success would convince teens to drop out of school, so at age 60, he went back and got his GED.
Clara Peller, a retired manicurist, was hired at age 80 as a temp on a commercial set. Her voice and manner brought an acting contract, and she became rich and famous from Wendy's "Where's the beef" campaign.
Peller lost her job in 1985 after doing a Prego ad in which she "found the beef at somewhere other than Wendy's."
Wendy's burgers are square and not circular because square patties have corners that stick out so that customers can easily see the quality of the meat.
Wendy's Bacon Deluxe
For dessert, Wendy's serve Frostys, which is actually a mixture of chocolate and vanilla flavors. This was because Dave Thomas thought that 100% chocolate would be too overpowering a flavor when paired with a Wendy's burger and fries meal.
Wenceslaus was born in c907 the son of Vratislaus I, Duke of Bohemia.
His mother, Drahomíra, was the daughter of a pagan tribal chief of the Havelli, but was baptized at the time of her marriage.
Wenceslaus' grandfather, Bořivoj I of Bohemia, was converted to Christianity by Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles to the Slavs.
Wenceslaus' paternal grandmother, Ludmila of Bohemia, saw to it that he was educated in the Old-Slavonic language and, at an early age, he was sent to the college at Budweis.
In 921, when Wenceslas was about thirteen, his father died and his grandmother, Ludmila, became regent.
Wenceslaus' mother Drahomíra, become jealous of Ludmila's influence over Wenceslaus and plotted to kill her. When Ludmila heard about the plot, her reaction was calm and philosophical. If by her death the Christian religion could be furthered then it would not have been in vain. She begun to give away all her goods to the poor and proceeded to pray daily that she might meet her fate with dignity. She was finally murdered by being strangled by her veil.
Wenceslaus I became the duke of Bohemia in 921. Renowned for his piety, he founded many churches in Prague, including a rotunda consecrated to St. Vitus at Prague Castle, which exists as present-day St. Vitus Cathedral.
Wenceslaus, probably by Peter Parler, in St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
Wenceslaus took a vow of celibacy and spent much of his time in acts of piety, affairs of state and prayer. So great was his devotion that he helped sow the corn and gather the grapes from which the bread and wine used at Mass was made.
During his reign Wenceslaus attempted to Christianise his people and encouraged the work of German missionaries. He favoured the Latin rite of the Mass instead of the old Slavic one which had fallen into disuse.
Early in 929, the joint forces of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria and King Henry I the Fowler the king of East Francia (Germany) reached Prague in a sudden attack. The pious Wenceslaus came to an arrangement with the German king to end the war. He placed his duchy under the protection of Germany and resumed the payment of a tribute first imposed by the East Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia in 895.
This angered some of the Bohemian nobles, who prompted Boleslav, Wenceslaus' younger brother, to get him killed. On September 28, 935, on his way to Mass, Wenceslaus was murdered at the church door. The people were outraged and regarded the martyred duke as a saint.
Murder of Duke Wenceslaus, Liber viaticus (14th century)
Three years later Boleslav, having repented of his deed, ordered the translation of Wenceslaus' body to the Church of St. Vitus in Prague
Wenceslaus was posthumously declared to be a king by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, and later came to be seen as the patron saint of the Czech Republic.
The most famous square in Prague is the Wenceslas Square, formerly known as Horse Market. It was renamed Saint Wenceslas square in 1848 on the proposal of Czech writer Karel Havlíček Borovský.
When Church of England priest and hymn writer John Mason Neale came across a long narrative German poem about Wenceslas, a section in which the king walked out into the snow to rescue a poor swineherd particularly struck him. Neale adapted the poem into English and borrowed the tune to go with it from "Tempus Adest Floridum" ("Spring has unwrapped her flowers"), a 13th century spring carol.
"Good King Wenceslas" was included in a 1853 publication Carols for Christmas-tide, by Neale and the Rev. Thomas Helmore (vice-Principal of St. Mark's College, Chelsea). It is now sung as a carol for Saint Stephen's Day.
The story inspired much more than a carol. Neale was so touched by the quality of mercy in the tale of Wenceslas he read that he founded the Society of St Margaret, which still offers care to the poor in their homes.
He was born Herbert George Wells at Atlas House, 162 High Street in Bromley, Kent on September 21, 1866. (A plaque at 47 High Street marks his birthplace).
His father, Joseph, was a former domestic gardener and at the time of his birth a retail china shop owner which also sold sporting goods.
Joseph Wells was also a professional Kent cricketer. He was the first man to take four first class wickets with four successive balls playing against Sussex in 1862.
In 1877 an accident left Joseph Wells with a fractured thigh. The accident effectively put an end to Joseph's career as a cricketer and his earnings as a shopkeeper were not enough to compensate for the loss.
Joseph's mother, Sarah Neal, was a not very efficient domestic servant, who later became a housekeeper.
Both parents were members of the working class who earned a meagre income. An inheritance had allowed them to acquire a shop selling china and sporting goods, but it failed to prosper.
Photograph by George Charles Beresford, 1920
One of four children, Herbert was the spoilt youngest child. He was called "Bertie" in the family.
When Herbert was 8, the son of the landlord of The Bell at Bromley threw him in the air and shouted "Whose kid are you?" The boy landed awkwardly and broke his leg. As young Herbert lay on the sofa recovering, the landlord's wife sent in books for him to read. From that time he was in love with reading.
Snowed in one winter at the stately home Uppark, Midhurst, where his mother was the housekeeper, young Herbert produced a daily newspaper called the Uppark Alarmist. He also found a telescope in one of the attics with which he looked at mooncraters.
In 1874 Herbert entered Thomas Morley's Commercial Academy, a private school where he studied until 1880.
CAREER
As a teenager Wells worked several apprenticeships, including a chemist's apprentice in Midhurst, West Sussex, to help pay for family costs.
During his final apprenticeship between 1880 and 1883, Wells spent an unhappy time as a draper at the Southsea Drapery Emporium, Hyde's.
In 1883 his Hyde's employer dismissed Wells, claiming to be dissatisfied with him. The young man was reportedly not displeased with this ending to his apprenticeship as it allowed him to become a pupil teacher at Midhurst Grammar school.
The following year Wells successfully obtained a place at the Normal School of Science (later the Royal College of Science, now part of Imperial College) as a trainee science teacher. He entered the college with a scholarship which entitled him to free tuition and a guinea a week living costs. At the college he only excelled in zoology.
At the Normal School of Science Wells studied biology under T. H. Huxley.
The school year 1886 - 1887 was the last year of his studies. Having previously successfully passed his exams in both biology and physics, Wells' lack of interest in geology resulted in his failure to pass and the loss of his scholarship.
After his time at the Royal College of Science Wells got a job at a school on the Welsh borders but a football injury which seriously damaged his kidney meant he had to resign from his job. As he recovered at home he began to read and write.
At first Wells struggled to make ends meet. In one year he only sold one short story for £1.
Between 1888-94 Wells continued his writing with increasing success, while working with a university correspondence college as a tutor.
In 1889–90, Wells managed to find a post as an assistant master at Henley House School, a private school, where he taught science to Winnie the Pooh author A. A. Milne.
Wells studying in London c. 1890
His first published work was the Text-book of Biology, which was published by the University Correspondence College Press in two volumes in 1893.
Wells began writing short humorous articles for journals such as The Pall Mall Gazette. The author had thought of using some of this material in a series of articles in the Pall Mall Gazette until the publisher asked him if he could instead write a serial novel on the same theme. Wells readily agreed and wrote his first novel The Time Machine. He was paid £100 on its publication by Heinemann in 1895, which first published the story in serial form in the January to May editions of The New Review.
During World War 1 after witnessing the horrific marches to the front in the face of sniper fire, mines, mud filled trenches etc, Wells devised an aerial rope-way system to do the same job.
Wells longed to be recognised as a scientist. He particularly coveted being a Fellow of the Royal Society.
WORKS
Lionised in America and regarded as a prophet by the young in England, Wells' works were translated into every major language. He wrote around 100 books and is sometimes called The Father of Science Fiction.
The term "Outer space" was popularized in the early 20th century writings of H. G. Wells.
Wells published his first major work, The Time Machine, in 1895, when he was twenty-nine years old.
Originally called "The Chronic Argonauts," The Time Machine is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposely and selectively forwards or backwards in time.
The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle.
First edition cover
In 1960, Wells' The Time Machine novella was made into an American science fiction film, during which Rod Taylor ends up in year 802701 and a war between Elois and Morlocks.
The War of the Worlds was an 1898 science fiction book by H. G. Wells about Martians attacking Earth. The book's plot arose from Wells wondering "if Martians did to Britain what the British had done to the [indigenous] Tasmanians?", which most modern scholars characterize as a genocide.
Actor Orson Welles stirred a national panic on October 30, 1938 with his radio drama The War of the Worlds based on Wells' novel. Listeners believed the "simulated" news bulletins in the broadcast were real and that Grovers Mill, New Jersey, actually was being invaded by men from Mars.Two people had heart attacks and many others were treated for shock.
A re-creation of the famous War of the Worlds broadcast performed in Ecuador in 1949 caused such a panic, that police and fire brigades rushed out of town to fight the supposed alien. After the people found out it was fake, they burned down the radio station, killing six people.
Robert H. Goddard was inspired to invent the rocket technology by The War of the Worlds.
Tomohiro Nishikado, who was in charge of the Taito Corporation game making department, drew inspiration for the aliens for his Space Invaders electronic shooter game from The War of the Worlds.
In his 1902 novel First Men on the Moon Wells correctly speculated that a man could move rapidly across the Moon with little hops and jumps.
The H. G. Wells crater, located on the far side of the Moon, was named after Wells in 1970.
H.G. Wells crater. By James Stuby based on NASA image
Wells' first non-fiction bestseller was Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought. When originally serialised in 1901 in a magazine it was subtitled "An Experiment in Prophecy", and is considered his most explicitly futuristic work.
Wells' experiences as a draper's apprentice at Hyde's, where he worked a thirteen-hour day and slept in a dormitory with other apprentices, inspired his 1905 novel Kipps: The Story Of A Simple Soul. The book portrays the life of a draper's apprentice as well as providing a critique of society's distribution of wealth.
In 1941 a movie adaption was made of Kipps, starring Michael Redgrave as a shopkeeper who inherits money and gate crushes society.
The Half a Sixpence 1967 musical film was based on Kipps. The title song was sung by leading man Tommy Steele, who was once mooted as Britain's answer to Elvis Presley.
Amber Reeves, one of Wells' mistresses, was his model for his 1909 novel Ann Veronica. The book caused an uproar when it was published due to the frankness with which it treated sexual relationships.
In The World Set Free in 1914, Wells wrote of an atomic weapon called an "atomic bomb." He was prophetically accurate about the effects of radioactive contamination and the bringing of radioactivity to practical use.
Wells coined the phrase for World War One, "The war that will end wars," in an article published in The Daily News on August 14, 1914 just days after the outbreak of World War I. Wells used the phrase to express his hope that the war would be so destructive that it would finally put an end to all future wars.
Wells's hope was not realized. World War I was followed by World War II, and there have been many other wars since then. However, Wells's phrase has become a rallying cry for those who believe that war can be abolished, and it continues to inspire people around the world to work for peace.
Wells' 1920 The Outline of History, a populist history, sold two million copies making him more money than any other of his books.
His 1933 The Shape of Things To Come was a work of scientific and political speculation in which Wells speculated on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. Some of his short-term predictions would come true, notably the aerial bombing of whole cities and the eventual development of weapons of mass destruction.
BELIEFS
Raised by his devout Protestant mother to be an evangelical Christian, when Wells studied science at school and college he started to question his faith. He was particularly influenced by the lectures given at the Normal School of Science by T.H Huxley, a proponent of evolution.
Gripped by Huxley, Wells became a rationalist and evolutionist who believed in science to transform humanity. His rejection of religion for science made him pessimistic about the future.
Wells was part of the Debating Society at the Normal School of Science, which marked the beginning of his interest in a possible reformation of society. At first approaching the subject through studying The Republic by Plato, he soon turned to his contemporary ideas of socialism as expressed by the recently formed Fabian Society.
He was also among the founders of The Science School Journal, a school magazine which allowed Wells to express his views on literature and society.
The message of Wells' novels was that in the future society would advance to the fundamental principle that no member is more or less important than anyone else.
H. G. Wells in 1943
H.G. Wells was an enemy of Christianity, which he regarded as irrational. His populist The Outline of History, was a comprehensive assault on religion.
Wells in particular disliked Catholicism, as he believed overpopulation is "The greatest evil" facing the world and birth control opposed by Catholics is the answer. He loathed Catholics and believed Catholicism was a 'mental cancer'.
He disliked monarchists. Wells said of Queen Victoria "A great paperweight that for half a century sat upon people's minds."
Wells wrote some senseless things about the working classes and the poor, including advocating sterilising for them. He wrote in Anticipations: "These swarms of black and brown and dingy white and yellow people... I take it they will have to go."
Six years later, Wells' A Modern Utopia (1907) was almost Arian in its preference for the procreation of superior types of humanity to unfit ones such as Jews and dark-skinned people.
Wells once said: "There is no more evil thing in this world than race prejudice. It justifies and holds together more baseness, cruelty and abomination than any other sort of error in the world." Despite this he was a vehement anti-semitist who believed in an all-powerful police state. His lower middle class heroes like Mr Kipps were the sort he would have destroyed with his Ayrianish views.
Wells believed in a class structure and his pamphlets converted a lot of people to Socialism.
In 1921 and 22 Wells stood as Labour candidate for Parliament. Despite his constituency largely comprising the University of London, he lost.
A long term activist of the Socialist Fabian Society, sometimes Wells was too revolutionary even for the Fabians. He said to Josef Stalin in a 1934 interview: "It seems to me that I am more to the left than you, Mr Stalin".
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Wells was a small plump man with piercing blue eyes and a drooping moustache.
H. G. Wells in 1907 at the door of his house at Sandgate
Never fully sure of himself, Wells was impatient and unpredictable, prickly and intolerant but loyal to his friends.
He had a high pitched, squeaky voice, which never lost its cockney impudence.
Wells possessed a huge range of energy and had a mischievous, impish humour.
MARRIAGE
In 1887, Wells', Aunt Mary, a cousin of his father, invited him to stay with her for a while. During his stay with his aunt, he grew interested in her daughter, Isabel Mary Wells.
In 1891 Wells married his pretty, sweet natured, bovine, cousin Isabel.
Wells started an affair with Amy Catherine Robbins who was six years younger than him. She was a pupil at the university correspondence college in London where he taught. When Amy spent a weekend with Wells, Isabel realised the situation and gave her husband an ultimatum and within days he'd left his wife. After two years of marriage they were divorced.
Wells married Amy at St Pancras register office on October 27, 1895.
He made Amy change her name preferring Jane. She bore him two sons and was with him until her death in 1927.
Wells believed in free love and had affairs with a significant number of women. In December 1909, he had a daughter, Anna-Jane, with the writer Amber Reeve.
One of his mistresses was the writer Rebecca West (1892-1983). He called her "panther" and she called him "Jaguar". He had a son, Anthony by her, who became a critically lauded author.
Rebecca West
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
Wells' friend J.M. Barrie founded an amateur cricket team called the Allahakbarries in 1890. Wells played for the Allahakbarries along with Arthur Conan Doyle, Jerome K. Jerome, G.K. Chesterton and A.A. Milne.
Seeking a more structured way to play with toysoldiers, H.G. Wells wrote in 1913 Little Wars, which is recognized today as the first recreational wargame. He sometimes played it all day with friends. Wells is regarded by gamers and hobbyists as "the Father of Miniature Wargaming."
Wells was brought up in the kitchen and backstairs of the Uppark country house near Midhurst where his mother was the housekeeper.
Uppark. By EccentricRichard
Whilst apprenticed to a chemist Wells lodged at Ye Old Tea Shoppe, Midhurst.
After marrying Isabel Wells moved to Sevenoaks to live with her. It was at 23 Eardley Road there that he wrote The Time Machine.
Wells went to live in Folkestone, Kent for his flagging health in 1898. He had a home built for him there, Spade House on Radnor Cliff Crescent. Some of his best works including Kipps and The History of Mr Polly were written at Spade House.
He lived in London for much of his life. Wells' homes there included a seven-bedroom house at Church Street, Hampstead. Between 1930-37 he lived in a flat at 97 Chiltern Court, Marylebone Road, London. His last home was a terraced house on Hanover Terrace, which overlooked Regents Park.
DEATH AND LEGACY
A diabetic, Wells co-founded the charity The Diabetic Association (known today as Diabetes UK) in 1934.
Wells died of diabetes aged 79 on August 13, 1946 at home at 13 Hanover Terrace. He was working on the scenario of a filmThe Way The World Is Going at the time. His last words were "Go away, I'm all right".
His ashes were scattered in Poole harbour, Dorset.
The Wellington boot is a waterproof rubber boot that loosely covers the calves. They are commonly used for a range of agricultural and outdoors pursuits.
Sailing boot. By Helmardine
The Wellington boot is associated with Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, (the Iron Duke). In 1817, the Duke of Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St James Street, London to modify his Hessian 18th century boots so that they fitted more closely around the leg. He also instructed that they be hard-wearing for riding, yet smart enough for informal evening wear. The result was a boot made in calfskin leather with the trim removed and cut to fit more closely around the leg. The heels were low cut and the boot stopped at mid-calf.
Wellingtons first appeared in 1817 and proved popular with the British troops because they were hard wearing for battle yet comfortable for evening wear.
The boot leather was treated with wax to make them softer and more waterproof.
The new boots became a very popular fashion accessory for British gentlemen such as the renowned dandy George "Beau" Brummell. Considered fashionable and foppish in the best circles, they remained the main fashion for men throughout the 1840's
Wellington is one of the two British Prime Ministers to have given his name to an item of clothing, the other being Sir Anthony Eden after whom the Anthony Eden hat is named.
On a sea voyage the vessel in which Wellington was in encountered a violent storm and seemed about to sink. The captain came to Wellington's cabin at dusk and said, "It will soon be all over with us." Wellington about to go to bed said, "Very well, then I shall not take off my boots."
The Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. By James Lonsdale portrayed wearing tasselled Hessian boots
In 1844 American chemist Charles Goodyear invented the modern chemical process to create and manufacture pliable, waterproof, moldable rubber, which was to be of great importance for vehicletires. Eight years later American industrialist Hiram Hutchinson met Charles Goodyear and acquired patent rights to the vulcanisation of rubber from him.
Hutchinson moved to France where he applied the new rubber vulcanisation process to the production of Wellington boots. In a country where 95% of the population were working on fields with wooden clogs, the introduction of the wholly waterproof, Wellington-type rubber boot was an instant success: farmers would be able to come back home with clean, dry feet. The name Wellington boot subsequently became associated with these waterproof rubber footwear rather than the leather boots.
In 1856, the Scotland-based North British Rubber Company (known today by the brand name Hunter Boots) began manufacturing rubber Wellington rain boots. Production of their waterproof boot was dramatically boosted with the advent of World War I and a requirement for footwear suitable for the conditions in Europe's flooded and muddy trenches. The North British Rubber Company produced a total of 1,185,036 pairs of Wellington boots to meet the British Army's demands.
Wellingtons were originally only available in one color: black. Other colors didn’t appear until 1955, the year Hunter Boots introduced green boots. In 1980, sales of their green wellies skyrocketed after Lady Diana Spencer (future Princess Diana) was pictured wearing a pair on the Balmoral estate during her courtship with Prince Charles.
In Australia and New Zealand wellies are called “gumboots” is a nod to the natural rubber that rain boots are made from. Natural rubber, which is obtained from trees, is called "gum rubber."
In North America, Wellingtons are usually called rubber boots, but sometimes galoshes, mud boots, rain boots, mucking boots, billy boots, or gum-boots.
A pair of Hunter 'Original Tall' Wellington boots.By Jan
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 evangelicalMethodism.
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".
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 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 novelFanny 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".
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 cookingapple, 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.
