Who
was He?
Military Commander and Statesman.
Date and Place
of Birth:
1st
May 1769. Dublin, Ireland. Christened Arthur Wellesley.
Family Background: Son
of the 1st Earl of Mornington.
Education:
Eton
College. Military School in Angers, France.
Chronology:
Never
very successful at school it was only at military
college that he found his true vocation.
1787: He was appointed
to an Ensign's Commission in the 73rd Foot and
then rose rapidly through the ranks in other egiments
to the post of Captain.
1790: He became a
Member of Parliament for Trim in the Irish Parliament.
He also served as Aide-de-camp for two Lord Lieutenants
of Ireland. His brother bought him command of
the 33rd Regiment of Foot which he led in combat
in Flanders.
1797: He took his
Regiment to India and took part in the invasion
of Mysore and the defeat of the ruler Tippoo Sahib
He then became ruler of the conquered lands of
Seringapatam.
1803: He had helped
to break the influence of the Mahratta power at
Ahmednagar, Assaye and Argaum.
1805: Returned home
to England and was knighted.
1806: He was elected
as the Member of Parliament for Rye in Sussex.
1807: The Government
appointed him Irish Secretary but he soon led
a force to fight against the Danes at Sjaelland.
1808: Lieutenant
-General Wellesley was given command of a British
Expeditionary Force in Portugal and won a battle
at Vimeiro.
1809: He assumed
overall control of the British, Portuguese and
Spanish forces in the Peninsula War against Napoleon
and after a faltering start achieved sveral minor
victories and was elevated to Viscount Wellington.
1812: Decisive Victory
at the Battle of Salamanca. After a long campaign
lasting several years he at last saw the French
out of the area.
1814: After Napoleon's
abdication he returned to England and was feted
by all and sundry and created the Duke of Wellington.
He was appointed Ambassador to the Court of King
Louis the Eighteenth in France and took part in
the Congress of Vienna.
1815: Napoleon managed
to escape from imprisonment on the island of Elba
and rally his forces. Wellington again became
allied commander and on Sunday 18th June he led
his army against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo,
near Brussels in Belgium. It was, as he described
it, "a damn near run thing" and the
finely balanced battle only went in the Allied
favour with the arrival of the Prussian army,
led by General Von Blucher, late in the day .
Thus Napoleon was finally defeated and went into
permanent exile on the lonely British island of
St. Helena in the North Atlantic. Welington became
military ruler of France until 1818.
1818: On his return
to England he took a post in the British Government
and became a confirmed Tory, believing in strong
government and isolation from the rest of Europe.
He was appointed as Master-General of the Ordnance.
1826: He was made
Constable of the Tower of London.
1828: He became Prime
Minister, although rather reluctantly. The former
victor over Napoleon was now not one of Britain's
strongest Prime Ministers and he allowed the repealing
of the Test Act and the Corporation Act and the
setting up of the Catholic Emancipation Act, all
of which he had actually opposed in the past,
but which the public groundswell demanded.
1829: He assisted
Sir Robert Peel in his efforts to reorganise the
Metropolitan Police Force in London.
1830: He received
the nickname the "Iron Duke" after iron
shutters were placed on the windows of his London
home after rioters smashed them after his opposition
to parliamentary reform. He was forced to resign
after a parliamentary defeat in the House of Commons,
on the 15th November.
1834: When the Tory's
were again in power he refused to continue as
Prime Minister again and stepped down in favour
of Sir Robert Peel. He was still in government
however, and was named as Foreign Secretary.
1835: Thereafter
he took several other government posts including
Chief of the Army and became a mentor to Queen
Victoria.
1846: He retired
from public life.
1848: He was brought
out of retirement to organise a military force
to protect London against possible Chartist violence
at a large meeting held at Kennington Common.
Marriage: 1806
to Lady Katherine Packenham.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Apsley
House, now the Wellington Museum, Marble Arch.
The Guard's Museum, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage
Walk.
St. Paul's Cathedral.
HAMPSHIRE:
Stratfield Saye House, given to him by the British
Government for his victory at the Battle of Waterloo.
KENT:
Walmer
Castle, his residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque
Ports.
Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham.
WALES:
Regimental Museum of the First Queen's Dragoon
Guards, Cardiff.
Date and Place
of Death:
14th September 1852. Walmer Castle, Kent, England.
Age at Death:
83.
Site of Grave:
Crypt, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England. |
