Wellington, DUKE OF, the Hon. Arthur Wellesley (or Wesley), was third of the four sons who reached man's estate of Copyright 1892 in U.S. Garret, first Earl of Mornington, by J. B. Lippincott of Dangan Castle, County Meath, Company. and Anne Hill, daughter of Lord Dungannon. He was born on 29th April 1769, according to a committee of the House of Commons which had to decide, in April 1790, whether or not he was then of age, and therefore eligible to take his seat. But Lady Mornington always insisted that he was born on May-day 1769, and the duke himself kept that day as his birthday, though his baptismal certificate is dated April 30. The place of his birth, too, is somewhat doubtful, but it was probably Mornington House, 24 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, and not Dangan Castle, as sometimes stated. It is remarkable that the same year produced his great antagonist Bonaparte, and that similar uncertainty exists as to the date of his birth, now allotted to August 15. His three brothers were all men of mark and eminent scholars, but he was for many years considered the dunce of the family, and was by no means a favourite with his mother.
He went first to school at Chelsea and then to Eton, distinguishing himself at neither as regards learning, but gaining some renown at the latter by fighting 'Bobus' Smith, brother of the witty Canon Sydney Smith of St Paul's. From Eton he went to a French military school at Angers for about a year, was 'not very attentive to his studies,' and rather weak in health, but acquired a useful knowledge of the language.
On 7th March 1787 he received his first commission as ensign in the 73d Foot. His eldest brother Richard, Earl of Mornington since his father's death in 1781, watched over him and gave him the benefit of his great political and social influence, so that he soon became lieutenant in the 76th Foot, then in the 41st Foot, and then in the 12th Light Dragoons. From captain in the 58th Foot, he went in 1792 to the 18th Light Dragoons. Then, being promoted into the 33d Foot as major, he purchased the lieutenant-colonelcy of that regiment in September 1793, with money provided by his brother. In the meantime he had served as aide-de-camp to two viceroys of Ireland, Lords Westmoreland and Camden, and entered parliament as member for Trim. In 1796 he became engaged to the Hon. Catherine Pakenham, third daughter of Edward Michael, second Lord Longford; but they were not allowed to marry until 10th April 1806, when he returned from India a major-general and victor in several great battles.
Up to 1793, when he assumed command of the 33d Regiment, he had been considered dull, idle, and perhaps frivolous, but he soon showed very different traits, and worked so earnestly and wisely that his regiment was in a few months officially declared to be the best drilled and most efficient in the Irish command. In 1794 a force under Lord Moira was despatched to succour the Duke of York, who, beaten at Oudenarde, was retiring on Antwerp. Here the 33d joined the army, and its commander, who had resigned his seat in parliament in order to lead it, commenced his war service by taking part in a retreat, for the French had cut the allies in two, the Austrians retiring by Maestricht, the British towards Holland. The first engagement in which Arthur Wesley, as he then signed himself, took part was during the retreat of General Abercrombie's brigade from Boxtel, which place they had tried to retake, but without success. The 33d were in support, and by their steady fire, added to the skilful way in which they were handled, were able to beat off the enemy at a very critical moment. Wesley's coolness and promptitude on this occasion were noticed by his superiors, and he was selected to command the rear-guard, and faithfully fulfilled this arduous task. The retreat was made in winter weather of unusual severity, and great privations were endured. The superior officers, too, of this unfortunate expedition were criminally careless and indolent, so that the final escape of the army to its ships in the spring seemed to Wesley almost miraculous. So great was his disgust at the way this affair had been mismanaged that, on reaching his home at Trim, he applied for civil employment, indicating the Revenue or Treasury Board as his preference. But his request was not complied with, and soon after he was ordered with his regiment to the West Indies. They embarked, but after striving in vain for six weeks to get out of the Channel, returned to Spithead. He then led the 33d to Poole, and there became so seriously ill that he could not embark when, in January 1796, the regiment started for the East Indies. However, by taking passage on board a swift man-of-war, he overtook it at the Cape, and landed with it at Calcutta in February 1797. Within two months he was nominated to command an expedition against Manila; but the troops were recalled when they had but reached Penang. He occupied himself in compiling regimental orders for troops on board ship, and wrote papers on Pulo-Penang and on Bengal, which showed great talent as a financier. He also wrote on the necessity of expelling the French from Mauritius, and on many other subjects connected with the government of India. At the same time he energetically protected the interests of his men whenever threatened.
In the winter of 1797 he visited Lord Hobart at Madras, and his military memoranda of that date show how customary it was with him to study the topography of any country he might be in, a habit which led him, three years beforehand, to select the field of Waterloo as the spot on which a battle for the defence of Brussels against an invasion from the south ought to be fought.
On 17th May 1798 his brother, Lord Mornington, landed at Calcutta as governor-general. A letter written on this occasion was the first signed 'Arthur Wellesley,' a spelling which, following the usage of his family, he henceforward adopted. Lord Mornington found the British settlements, then a mere fringe on the edges of India, in considerable danger. Bonaparte was in Egypt, threatening to attack India, and Tippoo, sultan of Mysore, was coquetting with the governor of Mauritius, by whose aid he hoped to drive the British out of the country. After some months of vexatious delay, utilised, however, in prepara- tions and much diplomatic fencing, an expedition against Tippoo was set on foot. Wellesley and the 33d were despatched from Calcutta to Madras. The transport ran on the Sagar reef in the Hooghly, but soon got off undamaged. It took six weeks to perform the voyage, and all on board suffered from dysentery, fifteen men dying owing to the bad water. On 29th January 1799 General Harris took command, and General Stuart, with 6000 men, prepared to co-operate with him from Bombay in an attack upon Seringapatam, but was himself assailed without success, on 6th March, by Tippoo. Three weeks later General Harris' army, after capturing many fortified posts, met the sultan near Malvalli, on the right bank of the Mad-door. Wellesley, in command of the left brigade, moved in echelon, the 33d leading, against Tippoo's right, and his vigorous onset, combined with the charge of General Floyd's cavalry brigade, routed the enemy in less than two hours. His loss was but a few score in killed and wounded, the enemy's nearly 2000. General Harris then outmancuvred Tippoo and invested him in Seringapatam. A night attack in two columns, on 5th April, against the outposts was only partially successful. The column led by Wellesley failed to find the post and got into confusion. Next day, however, the same troops carried the post with ease and little loss. Wellesley, who had been slightly wounded in the knee, was much mortified at his first failure. At the final assault, when Tippoo was slain, he led the reserve column, and took command of the place after its capture. By vigour and justice he put a stop to the great disorder which ensued, and restored confidence amongst the people. During three months as governor of Seringapatam he found himself engaged in numberless ways, as soldier, engineer, statesman, traffic-manager, and even sanitary authority. He had to bury Tippoo with due pomp, see to the removal and pensioning of his sons and wives, restore the old Hindu dynasty, and control the distribution of over a million sterling of prize money. In administering the affairs of the place he showed great capacity, and his opinion was sought in settling the future of the conquered province.
On 24th August 1799 he was appointed to command the troops in Mysore in General Harris' place, and engaged in the onerous work of establishing tranquillity there. The principal cause of trouble was a Mahratta freebooter, Dhundia Wágh, who had collected some 5000 men and six guns, and executed numerous successful raids. After hunting him from 15th June to 10th September, Wellesley, at the head of four regiments of cavalry, and without waiting for his infantry, dashed upon him, killed him, and dispersed his following. In the camp his little son was found, of whom Wellesley took charge and was mindful in after years. When he quitted India he left some hundreds of pounds to be expended upon the boy, who died in 1822 of cholera. Prevented by illness from joining Baird's expedition from Kosseir to the Nile, Wellesley remained two years longer in Mysore, and on 29th April 1802 was promoted major-general.
The treaty of Bassein (December 31, 1802), which made an ally of the Peshwá, consolidated British power in India, but soon necessitated military operations against the rival Mahratta chiefs, Sindhia and Holkar, by whom he had been deposed. At the request of Lord Clive, General Wellesley was given the command of a mixed force some 10,000 strong, with which he covered 600 miles in forty-two days, and entered Poona, the Mahratta capital, on 20th April 1803. In the last march he rode with the cavalry alone 60 miles in thirty-two hours, and by his sudden appearance saved the city from being burned by Holkar's lieu- tenant Amrut Rao. Behind him he left posts, and arranged for the construction of basket-boats, so as to be able to continue his operations during the rainy season. For some time he occupied an isolated and dangerous position, threatened by the disaffected chiefs from the north and separated from a second division coming from the west under Colonel Stevenson. At length having received full political powers, he called upon Sindhia to withdraw north of the Nerbudda, and on his failing to do so declared war against him on 6th August 1803. General Wellesley moved at once, captured Ahmadnagar on the 11th, crossed the Godavari on the 21st, and on the 23d found himself confronted by the combined forces of Sindhia and the rajah of Berar at Assaye. Their numbers have been estimated at from 40,000 to 50,000, with a hundred guns. Judging that bold action was the safest, though the enemy's position was strong, he attacked at once, and after a much more serious battle than any which had hitherto been fought in India gained a complete victory, capturing all the Mahratta guns. His loss was 2500 out of a force little exceeding 7000 men. Stevenson's division having effected a junction with him pursued the enemy, and Wellesley finished the campaign by the victory of Argann and the storming of Gáwilghar in December. The treaties with Sindhia and the rajah of Berar were signed by him, and the Mahratta power was completely broken.
His despatches concerning these matters and Indian policy generally show him to have been one of the ablest of administrators. Now Sir Arthur Wellesley, K.C.B., he returned home early in 1805, and accompanied the abortive expedition to Hanover. The following year he entered parliament again as member for Rye, and in 1807 was appointed Irish Secretary, but after a few months was sent to Copenhagen, where he commanded the troops which drove the Danes out of Zealand. He then returned to the Irish Office, but in July embarked with some 10,000 men for the relief of Portugal. His army landed at Mondego Bay in August 1808, and on the 17th he defeated the French under Junot at Rolica. On the 21st he inflicted a second defeat upon them at Vimiera, but was superseded during the battle by Sir Harry Burrard. He, contrary to Wellesley's advice, concluded the convention of Cintra, which ensured the evacuation of Portugal indeed, but saved the French from capitulation—the inevitable result if his plans had been adhered to.
Recalled to England to give evidence before the court of inquiry into the circumstances connected with the convention, by which he was fully exonerated, he took up his Irish duties again during the winter of 1808-9, while Sir John Moore's campaign was going on. But after its failure he was given the chief command in the Peninsula, and landed at Lisbon on 22d April 1809. Then began that marvellous display of generalship, foresight, and tenacity of purpose which, ending in the expulsion of the French from Spain and the capture of Toulouse on 12th April 1814, is known by the name of the Peninsular War (q.v.). The honours conferred upon him were numerous. He became Lieutenant-general on 26th April 1808 and G.C.B.; Baron Douro of Wellesley, county Somerset, and Viscount Wellington of Talavera and Wellington in the same county on 4th September 1809; Earl of Wellington on 28th February 1812, and Marquis on 3d October; Field-marshal on 3d July 1813; Marquis Douro and Duke of Wellington on 11th May 1814, and Knight of the Garter. He was also made Duke of Cindad Rodrigo, Magnate of Portugal, and Grandee of the first class in Spain; Duke of Vittoria, Marquis of Torres Vedras, and Count Vimiera in Portugal; and received all the most distinguished foreign orders, including the Golden Fleece. It is remarkable that he took the place amongst the knights of the Bath rendered vacant by the death of Lord Nelson. The duke reached Paris early in May, and after a short visit to Madrid, where he gave good but unheeded advice to King Ferdinand VII., returned to England after an unbroken period of five years' active service.
He was heartily welcomed home. From Westminster Bridge, on 23d June 1814, the crowd dragged his carriage to the duchess's house in Hamilton Place. On the 24th he joined the Regent and his royal guests at Portsmouth, and then took his seat in the House of Peers. A committee of fifteen from the House of Commons presented the thanks and congratulations of that assembly, and on 1st July from a place inside the bar he thanked them for the grant of £400,000 voted on 12th May. A week later he carried the sword of state at the solemn thanksgiving service in St Paul's, and was entertained soon after by the city at the Guildhall.
Very soon afterwards he was sent as ambassador to Paris, where he was naturally ill received. Realising this, Lord Liverpool offered him the American command, but he declined to quit Europe, and remained at his post until the early part of 1815, when he took Lord Castlereagh's place at the Vienna congress. On 7th March of that year he heard by courier from Florence that Napoleon had quitted Elba. The allies at once directed their forces against France. Wellington took command of the army in the Netherlands, arriving in Brussels on 4th April. It was a hard task to form this army, but by the end of May he had under him 150,000 men—British, Hanoverians, Brunswickers, Nassauers, and Dutch-Belgians. The last were favourably inclined towards the French, and only about one-third of the whole was available for field-service. Blücher with 116,000 Prussians was, however, ready to act and in communication with him. Failing to induce the allies to negotiate, Napoleon quitted Paris on 12th June and threw himself upon Blücher and Wellington. On the 16th he defeated the former at Ligny, whilst Ney pressed hard upon the latter at Quatre Bras. But designing to fight in conjunction on the chosen position of Mont St Jean, the allies retired so as to effect this object, with the result that the French army was totally routed on the 18th June in the famous battle of Waterloo (q.v.). Paris capitulated on 3d July, and Napoleon surrendered to the captain of H.M.S. Bellerophon at Rochefort.
Wellington was created Prince of Waterloo in the Netherlands, the estate of Strathfieldsaye, in Hampshire, purchased from Lord Rivers for £263,000, was presented to him by the nation, and his career of active service ended. Except Frederick the Great and Bonaparte in Italy, no general of modern times had done so much with such scanty and uncertain resources. But owing to the fact that the emperors of Austria and Russia were still at Nancy, Wellington in Paris held a most important position. In order to meet the hostility of the latter sovereign to Louis XVIII. by conciliating the French troops and populace, he found it expedient to appoint the powerful but infamous Fouché minister to the king, and in the subsequent treaty withstood the demand of Prussia for the cession of Alsace and Lorraine. He had already saved the Bridge of Jena from the destruction with which it was threatened by Prussian patriotism. Appointed commander-in-chief of the joint army of occupation, he exercised a very salutary influence in the royal counsels, besides reconstructing the military frontier of the Netherlands, and performing the other duties of the post. He had many enemies in Paris. An attempt to set fire to his house on the night of the 25th June 1816 nearly succeeded, but fortunately he was giving a ball, and his servants at once detected the smell of fire before it reached the barrels of oil and bottles of gunpowder which had been maliciously placed in the cellar. On the night of the 11th February 1818 a jolt of his carriage saved him from the bullet of the assassin Cautillon, which passed through both windows. In this year when the French had, by the help of Messrs Barug, paid all the indemnities, the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, acting on his advice, terminated the occupation originally fixed for five years.
Returning to England he joined Lord Liverpool's cabinet as Master-general of the Ordnance. In 1826 he was made Constable of the Tower, and the following year Commander-in-chief. He represented Great Britain at the congress of Verona on the death of Lord Castlereagh, and was able to prevent any joint interference with the affairs of Spain. As a member of Lord Liverpool's administration, he agreed to the St Petersburg protocol of 4th April 1827, designed to urge upon Turkey the Greek claim to autonomy, but without threats of intervention. On Canning's becoming prime-minister and going beyond this he withdrew from the cabinet, resigning the offices of Master-general of Ordnance and Commander-in-chief. Canning then concluded the treaty of London on 27th July, binding France, England, and Russia to enforce the protocol. This, as Wellington had foreseen, brought about the battle of Navarino.
On the death of Canning in August 1827, and the fall of Lord Goderich's cabinet in January following, the duke became prime-minister—only, however, at the king's earnest desire. He disapproved the Tories by advising the Lords not to oppose the Test and Corporation Acts which had been passed in the Lower House, and by a quarrel with Huskisson lost his support and that of all the Liberal members of his cabinet. Becoming, with Peel, convinced that Catholic emancipation was necessary, he brought in a bill to grant it in 1829. As he had always hitherto opposed such a measure, he incurred thereby much odium; and the Earl of Winchilsea published a letter accusing him of a design to introduce Popery. The duke thereupon called him out, and a duel with pistols was fought in Battersea Fields—his first and only duel. The duke intentionally fired wide and the earl fired into the air, so that no harm ensued, and the calumnies ceased (see Vol. IV. p. 108). Desiring to work for the good of the country alone, and not as a party man, he could not work harmoniously with his colleagues. By withdrawing, after Navarino, from intervention in the East, he lost the power of moderating Russian influence there. In Portugal he was favourable to Dom Miguel and the absolutists, and generally showed little sympathy with national causes. Failing to recognise the earnestness of the demand for parliamentary reform in 1830, he declared against it, and thus brought about the fall of his government, becoming so unpopular that he was looted by the mob on the anniversary of Waterloo, and the windows of Apsley House broken, so that he had them protected with iron shutters. On the occasion of a visit he paid to Lincoln's Inn the mob were so threatening that he had to be escorted home by the lawyers.
Again called upon by King William IV. in 1834 to form a cabinet, he recommended Peel as prime-minister, reserving for himself the post of Foreign Secretary. Sir Robert was in Italy, but the duke was sworn in as First Lord and Secretary of State for the Home Department, so as to enable him to act in all the other offices until Peel's return in three weeks' time. This brief dictatorship greatly raised his reputation as a statesman. In January 1834, too, he had been chosen Chancellor of the university of Oxford. Sir Robert Peel resigned in April 1835, but returned to power in 1841. Wellington joined his cabinet, but with no office except that of Commander-in-chief, and supported his Corn-law legislation. On his defeat in 1846 the duke retired from public life. He had been made Lord High Constable of England and again Master-general of Ordnance in 1838, and in 1842 Commander-in-chief by patent for life. In 1848 he organised the military in London against the Chartists in such a way that, without showing a soldier or a gun, the city was fully protected.
As age crept over him he became irritable about trifles and rather deaf, but retained his patience in grave matters and his keen eyesight. His last important service was a letter upon the defenceless state of the south coast, addressed to Sir John Burgoine, which had great results. On 1st May 1850, his birthday, a prince was born to whom he stood sponsor and gave his name. At the opening of the Exhibition of 1851 he walked in the procession, but on 14th September the following year faded peacefully away in his armchair at Walmer. After lying in state at Chelsea Hospital, he was buried with great pomp in St Paul's. All European nations, except Austria, were represented at the funeral, and it was felt by all that a great captain and a supremely dutiful, honest man had passed away. The monument to his memory, by Alfred Stevens (q.v.), is an imposing tribute to his worth. As regards his personal appearance and character: before age had bowed his figure, his height was 5 feet 9 inches, his build slight, but with square shoulders and a good chest. His eyes were violet-gray, clear, and penetrating; his nose, Roman; hair, brown; and his whole countenance, which has been compared to Cæsar's, expressive of great power and resolution. Though accused of want of feeling, there are many instances of the 'Iron Duke' being much affected by the loss of friends, and his charity, though unostentatious, was profuse. Mr Gleig asserts that he gave away £4000 in one year. He was a man of the strictest integrity and devotion to duty. In everything he looked upon himself as the servant of the sovereign, and never allowed personal considerations to sway his opinions or actions.
Besides the many honours already mentioned, he was colonel of the Grenadier Guards, colonel-in-chief of the Rifle Brigade, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Commissioner of the Royal Military College and Military Asylum, lord-lieutenant of Hants, chief ranger and keeper of Hyde and St James's parks. His duchess had died on 25th April 1831, leaving three sons and three daughters. To one of the latter Her Majesty Queen Victoria stood sponsor in person. His eldest son was Arthur Richard, second Duke of Wellington, K.G., &c., born 3d February 1807. He died without issue 13th August 1884, and was succeeded by his nephew Henry (1846-1900), second son of Major-general Lord Charles Wellesley.
A good account of his life and campaigns by Rev. C. N. Wright appeared in 1841. Other biographies are by Rev. G. R. Gleig (a personal friend), General Brialmont, Yonge, G. L. Browne, Hooper, Earl Roberts (1895), and Sir H. Maxwell (2 vols. 1899). His despatches, edited by Colonel Gurwood, are in themselves a military autobiography, supplemented as they have been by others edited by his son, who also published his speeches.