Field Marshall of British Army:

Arthur Wellington 

Main Life Accomplishments:

 

He was an Anglo-Irish British Army soldier and statesman, widely considered one of the leading military and political figures of the first half of the 19th century. Commissioned an ensign in the British Army, he rose to prominence in the Napoleonic Wars, eventually reaching the rank of field marshal. 

 

As a general Wellington is often compared to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, with whom he shared many characteristics, chiefly a transition to politics after a highly successful military career. He was twice Tory Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement in 1846.

Basics:

Born: 1 May 1769 in Possibly Dublin or County Meath

Died: 14 September 1852 (c. 83 years old) at Walmer, Kent 

Nationality: Irish 

Religion: Protestant Ascendancy

Fields: Military, Politics

Main Accomplishments: 

 

Chronology of Life Events:

May 1 1769

Birth of Arthur

 

1781-1785

Wesley was educated at Eton

 

1788

He was promoted to lieutenant

 

1790

He was elected as an independent member of Parliament

 

1793 

He gained rapid promotion becoming lieutenant colonel in the 33rd Regiment of Foot

 

1796

He accompanied his regiment to India

 

1803

Wellesley commanded the outnumbered British army at Assaye and Argaum

 

1804 

He was created a Knight of the Bath

 

1805

Wellesley served in the abortive Anglo-Russian expedition to north Germany

 

1806

He was elected Tory member of Parliament for Rye for six months

 

1807 

He was elected MP for Newport on the Isle of Wight

 

1808

Wellesley defeated the French at the Battle of Roliça and the Battle of Vimeiro

 

1811

Wellington narrowly defeated the French at the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro

 

1812

Wellington finally captured Ciudad Rodrigo

 

July 18 1812 

He wrote a famous letter

 

1813

Wellington led a new offensive, against the French line of communications.

 

1814 

Wellington invaded France and defeated the French army

 

1819

Wellington was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance in the Tory government of Lord Liverpool

 

1827 

He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army
Mar 21 1829 Wellington and Winchilsea met on Battersea fields

 

1830

Wellington's government fell

 

1852 

He died at Walmer Castle

Early Life:

Wellington was born The Honourable Arthur Wesley at either his family's social season Dublin residence, Mornington House, or at his family seat, Dangan Castle near Trim, County Meath, Ireland. He was the third of five surviving sons of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. His exact date of birth is uncertain; he himself celebrated his birthday on the first of May, but there is a parish register at St. Peter's, Dublin, recording his baptism on April 30. (His baptisimal font was donated to St. Nahi's Church, Dundrum, in 1914.) His biographers follow the contemporary newspaper evidence in ascribing it to 1 May 1769.[1] His family changed the spelling of their surname to Wellesley, which his oldest brother considered the ancient and proper spelling, in 1798.

 

He came from a titled English Protestant family long settled in Ireland. His father was the Earl of Mornington, his eldest brother (who inherited his father's earldom) became Marquess Wellesley, and two of his other brothers were raised to the peerage as Baron Maryborough and Baron Cowley.

 

Wesley was educated at Eton from 1781 to 1785, but a lack of success there, combined with a shortage of family funds, led to a move to Brussels in Belgium to receive further education.

 

Until his early twenties, Wesley showed no signs of distinction. His mother placed him in the army, saying "What can I do with my Arthur?" He became a nobleman playboy, carousing and gambling. He fell in love with the daughter of another Anglo-Irish peer, Miss Kitty Pakenham, and proposed marriage, but was rejected by her family as having no prospects. It seems likely that, at least in part, the shock of this rejection caused him to reform his bad habits: he minimized his drinking, stopped gambling and even burned his beloved violin. He also began a rigid course of self-education in military science, something that was to be taught by no professional academy in Britain for another decade. He volunteered for service in the Netherlands and India, and achieved spectacular successes, rising in a decade to the rank of general, never losing a battle, and winning considerable prize money from grateful rajahs. On returning to Ireland, he immediately renewed his marriage proposal to Kitty Pakenham before even seeing her again, and possibly without even having corresponded with her for ten years. This time, her family accepted him but, on seeing how Kitty had grown old in his absence, Wellesley seems to have quickly regretted his decision. However, a promise was a promise: their marriage lasted the rest of her life, producing two sons and a great deal of loveless anguish.

 

Wife Background:

She was the daughter of Edward Michael Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford and the wife of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

 

Born to Lord Longford and the former Catherine Rowley, she had met Wellesley in Ireland when they were both young, and Wellesley, after numerous visits to the Longford's Dublin home, made his feelings towards her clear. At the time her family disapproved of the match: Wellesley was the third son of a large family and looked to have little in the way of prospects. After the rejection by the Pakenhams, Wellesley became serious about his military career, was posted to the Netherlands and India, enjoyed a spectacular rise, and seemingly forgot Kitty. Although she remained hopeful that they would be reunited, she admitted to a friend, Olivia Sparrow, after many years that she thought the "business over". She became engaged to Gilbrath Lowry Cole, the second son of the Earl of Enniskillen, but Sparrow, who was in contact with him, revealed that Wellesley still considered himself attached to her. After much soul-searching, Pakenham broke off the engagement to Cole, although she believed the stress of the affair damaged her health.

 

Pakenham had been a pretty, vivacious girl when Wellesley had met her ten years before, but she was thin, pale and in poor health by the time he informed Sparrow that he was returning to England and that she should "renew the proposition he had made some years ago" on his behalf. Pakenham feared that Wellesley felt bound by promises he had made ten years earlier and was in two minds as to whether to accept the proposal. Despite his more formal proposal after he had obtained her brother's permission, she insisted that he should see her in person before committing himself. Wellesley travelled to Ireland to meet her, and although he was obviously disappointed in the change in her (he said to his brother "She has grown ugly, by Jove!"), went ahead with the marriage. The couple were married on 10 April 1806, by Wellesley's clergyman brother Gerald, and after a brief honeymoon, Wellesley returned to England. Kitty followed him and after a stay with his brother while Wellesley continued to inhabit his bachelor's lodging, they set up home together in Harley Street.

 

She became the Duchess of Wellington on Wellesley's creation as the Duke of Wellington on 3 May 1814 and eventually joined him in France when he was appointed Ambassador after Napoleon's exile to Elba. Lady Elizabeth Yorke commented that "her appearance, unfortunately, does not correspond with one's notion of an ambassadress or the wife of a hero, but she succeeds uncommonly well in her part."

 

Maria Edgeworth found her "delightful" and "amiable" and commented that "After comparison with crowds of other beaux spirits, fine ladies and fashionable scramblers for notoriety, her graceful simplicity rises in our opinion, and we feel it with more conviction of its superiority."

 

She died in 1831 after a short illness. She had seemed to be recovering but then relapsed.

Father Background:

He was an Anglo-Irish politician and composer, best known today for fathering several distinguished British politicians. He was born at the family estate of Dangan to Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington and Elizabeth Sale. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and was elected its first Professor of Music in 1764. As a composer he is remembered chiefly for glees such as Here in cool grot and for a double Anglican chant.Garret Wesley succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Mornington in 1758. In 1760, in recognition of his musical and philanthropic achievements, he was created Viscount Wellesley, of Dangan Castle in the County of Meath, and Earl of Mornington. He married Anne Hill, eldest daughter of the banker Arthur Hill, Lord Dungannon in 1759 Four of Lord Mornington's five sons were created peers in the Peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. The Barony of Wellesley (held by the Marquess Wellesley) and the Barony of Maryborough are now extinct, whilst the Dukedom of Wellington and Barony of Cowley are extant. The Earldom of Mornington is held by the Dukes of Wellington, and the Barons Cowley have since been elevated to be Earls Cowley. Garret Wesley died in 1781.

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