Arthur Wellesley 1st duke of Wellington

Home > People > History > British and Irish History: Biographies

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of (1769–1852). Soldier and prime minister. Arthur Wellesley was the third surviving son of the earl of Mornington, an impoverished Irish peer. Educated at Eton, he was regarded by his family as a dreamy introspective youth; the army was thought to be the only possible career for him. After a year at a French military academy at Angers, he entered the army by purchasing a commission. Early experience in the campaigns in the Low Countries during the first years of the Revolutionary War showed how things should not be done. His great chance came in India, where his elder brother was governor-general. Arthur established his military reputation by winning the spectacular victories of Assaye and Argaum over the Mahrattas in 1803. His campaigns in India were invaluable in preparing him for the type of war he was to fight in Portugal and Spain. In 1808 he was sent as commander of the first detachment of British troops to Portugal. Winning the battle of Vimeiro he was prevented from following up his victory by the caution of his superiors, and he was recalled with them to face a court of inquiry after the armistice of Cintra, which was seen in England as craven. Wellesley had signed the agreement under orders, but was bitterly attacked by opposition politicians. Cleared by the inquiry he resumed command of the British army in Portugal after the death of Moore. Shrewdly exploiting natural features and the engineering skills of the British army to construct the lines of Torres Vedras he ensured that the British army would not be pushed into the sea. Thereafter his Portuguese base was firm, and although collaboration with the Spaniards was often fraught with difficulties, he repeatedly challenged the French, proving the superiority of the British line over the French column. But he was more than a defensive general. He was bold when necessary, as the assaults on the fortresses of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo showed, and in the battles of Salamanca, Vitoria, and the Pyrenees he was as resourceful in attack as he had been in defence. The end of the Peninsular War saw him as the most famous British general since Marlborough. The battle of Waterloo in 1815 confirmed his stature and his fame. He was without vanity and had little time for romantic delusions about military glory. For Wellington the greatest misery next to a battle lost was a battle won. He cared for his men and husbanded their lives, scorned extravagant gestures, and despised popularity.

After 1815 Wellington was prominent as a diplomat and politician. He had owed much to Castlereagh; now he became one of his trusted lieutenants in the complex diplomacy of the post-war era. He also became a member of Liverpool's government, believing that it was his duty to serve the state in whatever capacity might be required of him. After the death of Canning and the failure of the Goderich ministry, Wellington became prime minister in January 1828. Many Conservatives saw him as pledged to the maintenance of the existing order in church and state, but while he did not desire catholic emancipation he was aware that it might be unavoidable. When in 1828 a crisis erupted in Ireland he chose to grant catholic emancipation rather than risk civil war. This earned him the hatred of the ultra-Tories and he fought a duel with Lord Winchilsea. He had already lost the support of the liberal Tories because of his dislike of Canning's foreign policy. In 1830 Wellington attempted to rally conservative opinion by affirming his resolute opposition to parliamentary reform. The tactic failed to restore confidence in his administration. In November 1830 he was defeated on the civil list in the Commons and resigned. Although Wellington opposed the Reform Bill he realized that opposition had to be attuned to the realities of politics. He therefore led 100 Tory peers from their seats in the Lords to allow the Reform Bill to pass in June 1832, preferring reform to the prospect of the Upper House being swamped by newly created peers. In 1834, during the crisis provoked by Melbourne's resignation, Wellington became a caretaker prime minister for some three weeks and after 1835 he played an important role as an elder statesman. The service of the crown and the preservation of public tranquillity were his chief priorities. He helped to secure the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. His final years saw him as a popular figure and on his death in 1852 he was mourned as a great soldier and outstanding public servant.

Wellington's attitudes were those of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat. He distrusted democracy, had little time for the vagaries of popular opinion, and saw politics in terms of fending off disaster rather than inaugurating utopia. His influence upon the army was conservative, though he was more perceptive than many contemporaries in understanding the role of the army in peacetime. Gifted with a cool intellect, the capacity to penetrate to the essentials of any problem surely and quickly, and the ability to express himself with lucid incisiveness, Wellington deserves his reputation as a great commander and a man of selfless integrity.

John W. Derry

Bibliography

Bryant, A. , The Great Duke (1971);
James, L. , The Iron Duke (1992);
Longford, E. , Wellington: The Years of the Sword (1969);
——Wellington: Pillar of State (1972).

Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1st duke of 1769-1852, British soldier and statesman.

Military Achievements

Wellesley entered the army in 1787 and, aided by his brother Richard (later Marquess Wellesley ), rose rapidly in rank. He held a command in Flanders (1794-95) and in 1796 went with his regiment to India. After his brother's appointment (1797) as governor-general of India, he received command of a division in the invasion of Mysore and became (1799) governor of Seringapatam. In 1800 he defeated the robber chieftain, Dhundia Wagh, and in 1802 he was made major general. In 1803 he moved against the Marathas , breaking their force of about 40,000 with an army of about 10,000 in a surprise attack. A valuable civil and military adviser to his brother, he returned with him to England in 1805 and was knighted. His election (1806) to Parliament and appointment (1807) as Irish secretary did not prevent him from leading (1807) an expedition against the Danes.

In 1808 he led an expedition to assist Portugal in its revolt against the French. He defeated the French at Roliça and Vimeiro, but was superseded in command. In 1809 he returned to the Iberian Peninsula, where he ultimately assumed command of the British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces in the Peninsular War . Taking advantage of the irregular terrain, Portuguese and Spanish nationalism, and Napoleon's preoccupation with other campaigns and projects, he drove the French beyond the Pyrenees by 1813, though his campaigns were rendered difficult by poor support from the British government. Late in 1813 he invaded S France, and he was at Toulouse when news of Napoleon's abdication (Apr., 1814) arrived.

Returning to England, he received many honors and was created duke of Wellington. He served for a short time as ambassador to Paris, then succeeded Viscount Castlereagh at the peace conference in Vienna; but when Napoleon returned from Elba, he took command of the allied armies. There followed his most famous victory, that in the Waterloo campaign , won in conjunction with the Prussian general, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Wellington, again lavishly honored, took charge of the army of occupation in France, exerting his influence to restrain harsh treatment of the defeated French.

Political Career

Wellington, "the iron duke," with the soldier's taste for discipline and order and the aristocrat's distrust of democratic institutions, lent his great prestige to the Tory policy of repression at home and took a cabinet post as master general of the ordnance (1819). He represented England at the Congress of Verona (1822), where he opposed intervention in the Spanish revolt, and at the conference at St. Petersburg (1826) that concerned itself with the revolt in Greece, but he was not in sympathy with the liberal foreign policy of George Canning and resigned (1827) when Canning became prime minister.

In 1828 Wellington himself reluctantly became prime minister. He bowed to public clamor and allowed the repeal of the Test Act and Corporation Act and the passage of the Catholic Emancipation bill (reforms he had previously opposed), but he lost the support of much of the Tory party as a consequence. When he declared against parliamentary reform, the ministry fell (1830), and his unpopularity subjected him to an assault by a mob. He refused to form a government in 1834, but served under Sir Robert Peel as foreign secretary (1834-35) and again (1841-46) as minister without portfolio. On the repeal of the corn laws he supported Peel, while not wholly approving his policy. In 1842 he was made commander in chief for life. He is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Bibliography

See his dispatches and other papers (pub. in 3 series, 1834-39, 1858-72, 1867-80); biographies by J. W. Fortescue (1925, 3d ed. 1960), P. Guedalla (1931), C. Petrie (1956), E. Longford (2 vol., 1969-72), A. Bryant (1971), and C. Hibbert (1997); studies by G. Davies (1954) and N. Thompson (1986).

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of (1769–1852). Soldier and prime minister. Arthur Wellesley was the third surviving son of the earl of Mornington, an impoverished Irish peer. After a year at a French military academy at Angers, he entered the army by purchasing a commission. Early experience in the campaigns in the Low Countries during the first years of the Revolutionary War showed how things should not be done. His great chance came in India, where his elder brother was governor‐general. Arthur established his military reputation by winning the spectacular victories of Assaye and Argaum over the Mahrattas in 1803. In 1808 he was sent as commander of the first detachment of British troops to Portugal. Winning the battle of Vimeiro he was recalled to face a court of inquiry after the armistice of Cintra, which was seen in England as craven. Wellesley had signed the agreement under orders, but was bitterly attacked by opposition politicians. Cleared by the inquiry he resumed command of the British army in Portugal after the death of Moore. Shrewdly exploiting natural features and the engineering skills of the British army to construct the lines of Torres Vedras he ensured that the British army would not be pushed into the sea. But he was more than a defensive general. He was bold when necessary, as the assaults on the fortresses of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo showed, and in the battles of Salamanca, Vitoria, and the Pyrenees he was as resourceful in attack as he had been in defence. The end of the Peninsular War saw him as the most famous British general since the duke of Marlborough. The battle of Waterloo in 1815 confirmed his stature and his fame. He cared for his men and husbanded their lives, scorned extravagant gestures, and despised popularity.

After 1815 Wellington was prominent as a diplomat and politician. He had owed much to Castlereagh; now he became one of his trusted lieutenants in the complex diplomacy of the post‐war era. He also became a member of Liverpool's government, believing that it was his duty to serve the state in whatever capacity might be required of him. After the death of Canning and the failure of the Goderich ministry, Wellington became prime minister in January 1828. When in 1828 a crisis erupted in Ireland he chose to grant catholic emancipation rather than risk civil war. This earned him the hatred of the ultra‐Tories and he fought a duel with Lord Winchilsea. In 1830 Wellington attempted to rally conservative opinion by affirming his resolute opposition to parliamentary reform. The tactic failed to restore confidence in his administration. In November 1830 he was defeated on the civil list in the Commons and resigned. Although Wellington opposed the Reform Bill he realized that opposition had to be attuned to the realities of politics. He therefore led 100 Tory peers from their seats in the Lords to allow the Reform Bill to pass in June 1832, preferring reform to the prospect of the Upper House being swamped by newly created peers. In 1834, during the crisis provoked by Melbourne's resignation, Wellington became a caretaker prime minister for some three weeks and after 1835 he played an important role as an elder statesman.

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of (1769–1852). Though Irish born, the third son of the earl of Mornington, Wellington spent most of his long career, beginning as Britain's leading military commander in the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars and ending as Tory prime minister 1828–30, outside Ireland. However, he sat in the Irish parliament as MP for Trim 1790–5, when he supported the Catholic relief bill of 1793. His refusal to relinquish his military commitments made him a partially absentee chief secretary for Ireland 1807–9, but he nevertheless carried through a reorganization of the Dublin police.

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of (known as ‘ the Iron Duke’) (1769–1852) British soldier and Tory statesman, Prime Minister (1828–30; 1834). Born in Ireland, he served as commander of British forces in the PENINSULAR WAR, winning a series of victories against the French and finally driving them across the Pyrenees into southern France (1814). The following year Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of WATERLOO, ending the Napoleonic Wars. During his first term as Prime Minister he granted Catholic Emancipation under pressure from Daniel O'CONNELL.