Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 -1852)

Arthur Wesley was born in Dublin into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family belonging to the Protestant Ascendancy, as The Hon. Arthur Wesley, to Garret Colley Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, and his wife Anne, eldest daughter of the 1st Viscount Dungannon. In 1781 Arthur's father died, and his eldest brother Richard inherited his father's earldom.  Arthur studied at Eton 1781-1784 where loneliness there caused him to hate it.  A shortage of family funds due to his father's death, forced Arthur and his mother to move to Brussels in 1785.  A year later, he enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he made rapid progress. He also entered politics, being elected as a Member of Parliament for Trim (Co. Meath) in the Irish House of Commons. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland. By 1796 he was a Colonel, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam.  In 1798, he changed the spelling of his surname from Wesley to Wellesley.  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.  During the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, he was appointed General, and following his victory at Talavera in 1809, Wellesley was elevated to the peerage of the United Kingdom on 26 August 1809 as Viscount Wellington, of Talavera, with the subsidiary title of Baron Douro, of Wellesley.  As reward for his victory at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812, he was created Earl, and then Marquess of Wellington, and given command of all Allied armies in Spain.  He was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813.  Hailed as the conquering hero by the British, Wellesley was named Duke of Wellington in 1814. His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. Upon ending his active military career, Wellington returned to politics. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army on 22 January 1827, but resigned in 1828 to become Prime Minister - a position he held twice for the Tory party, from 1828 to 1830, and again for a short period, in 1834.  When a wave of riots swept the country in 1830, with Wellesley maintaining the Tory policy of no reform and no expansion of suffrage,  he lost a vote of no confidence on 15 November 1830. Wellington was gradually superseded as leader of the Tories by Robert Peel, while the party evolved into the Conservatives. In Peel's first cabinet 1834–1835, Wellington became Foreign Secretary, while in the second 1841–1846, he was a Minister without Portfolio, and Leader of the House of Lords. In 1842 he was re-appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army following the resignation of Lord Hill. In 1793 he had sought the hand of Catherine Sarah Dorothea "Kitty" Pakenham, the daughter of Edward Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford, but her family opposed the match, considering him to have very poor prospects. In 1806, however, owing to his new title and status, Kitty Pakenham's family consented to the marriage. The couple were wed in Dublin on 10 April 1806, but the marriage was unsatisfactory, as they spent long periods apart while he was campaigning.  The marrriage produced two sons, Arthur in 1812, and Charles in 1813.  Kitty died of cancer in 1831. The Duke died at Walmer Castle in Deal on 14 September 1852 - his residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. His death was recorded as being due to the after effects of a stroke culminating in a series of seizures. He was aged 83. A state funeral took place on 18 November 1852 in London. He was buried in a sarcophagus of luxulyanite in St Paul's Cathedral, next to Lord Nelson.
Seat / Residence(s): Stratfield Saye House
Stamp(s) Stamp Information
Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) (Stamp 1) Title: Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) (Stamp 1)
Dimensions (height x width): 17mm x 16mm
Monogram: W
Coronet: Duke
Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) (Stamp 3) Title: Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) (Stamp 3)
Dimensions (height x width): 89mm x 72mm
Monogram: W
Title: Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) (Stamp 2)
Dimensions (height x width):
Monogram: W
Coronet: Duke
Title: Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) (Stamp 4)
Arms: Quarterly 1 & 4 Gules a cross argent between five plates [roundels] saltireways in each quarter (Wellesley) 2 & 3 Or a lion rampant gules ducally gorged (Colley)
Motto: Virtutis fortuna comes
Order: Golden Fleece [Toison d-or]
, Order: Garter
, Order: Bath
Supporters: 2 lions rampant ducally crowned
Dimensions (height x width):
Quarterings: 1 & 4 Gules a cross argent between five plates [roundels] saltireways in each quarter (Wellesley) 2 & 3 Or a lion rampant gules ducally gorged (Colley)
Coronet: Duke
Heraldic Charges: cross between, Heraldic Charges: lion rampant, Heraldic Charges: roundels (5)