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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (c. 1 May, 1769 – 14 September, 1852) was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, widely considered one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century. Commissioned an Ensign in the British Army, he would rise to prominence in the Napoleonic Wars, eventually reaching the rank of Field Marshal.

Wellington commanded the Allied forces during the Peninsular War, pushing the French Army out of Portugal and Spain and reaching southern France. Victorious and hailed as a hero in England, he was obliged to return to continental Europe to command the Anglo-Allied forces at Waterloo, after which Napoleon was permanently exiled at St. Helena. Wellington was victorious over Napoleon and the French at each of six major battles, confirming his place as one of history's greatest generals and strategists.

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 served as a Tory Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on two separate occasions, and was one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement in 1846.

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Early life

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 in County Meath, Ireland, he was the third son of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. His exact date of birth is a matter of some contention. All that exists is a church registry of the event marked a few days after it must have occurred. The most likely date is 1 May 1769, but it is possible the birth occurred a few days either side. He legally changed his surname (with other members of his family) to Wellesley in March 1798.

He came from a titled family long settled in Ireland; his father was the 1st Earl of Mornington, his eldest brother, who would inherit his father's Earldom, would be created Marquess Wellesley, and two of his other brothers would be 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. In 1787, his mother and brother Richard purchased for Wesley a commission as an Ensign in the 73rd Regiment of Foot; he attended the Military Academy of Angers in France, after having received earlier training in England. His first assignment was as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland (1787–1793). He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1788; two years later, he was elected as an independent Member of Parliament for Trim in the Irish House of Commons (in 1790), a position he held until 1797. He rose rapidly in rank (largely through the purchase system, which at that time allowed, and, indeed, generally required, officers in the British Army to purchase their rank) becoming Lieutenant-Colonel in the 33rd Regiment of Foot in 1793. He participated in the unsuccessful campaign against the French in the Netherlands between 1794 and 1795, and was present at the Battle of Boxtel.

In 1796, after a promotion to Colonel, he accompanied his division to India. The next year, his elder brother, Richard Wesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington, was appointed Governor-General of India, and when the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out from 1798 against the Sultan of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, Arthur Wellesley commanded a division of his own. While serving in that capacity, he was appointed Governor of Seringapatam and Mysore, positions he held until 1805. While in that position, he defeated the robber chieftain Dhundia Wagh (who had ironically escaped from prison in Seringapatam during the last battle of the Mysore war). In the Maratha War of 1803, he commanded the (outnumbered) British army at Assaye and Argaum, and stormed the fortress at Gawilghur. On one occasion, he outran the Mysore soldiers pursuing him and avoided getting killed. Through his own skill as a commander, and the bravery of his Scottish troops, the Indians were defeated at every engagement, and, following the successful conclusion of that campaign, he was appointed to the supreme military and political command in the Deccan. In 1804, he was created a Knight of the Bath, which would be the first of numerous honours throughout his life. When his brother's term as Governor-General of India ended in 1805, the brothers returned together to England, where they were forced to defend their imperialistic (and expensive) employment of the British forces in India. India did teach him to abandon the then-common British habit of infrequent bathing. Lord Wellington is usually credited with popularizing the custom of daily bathing in his own country.

Wellesley was elected MP for Rye (in the British House of Commons) for six months in 1806; a year later, he was elected MP for Newport on the Isle of Wight, a constituency he would represent for two years. During this time, he was an established Tory, and in April 1807 (while representing St Michael), he was invested a Privy Counsellor. Additionally, he served as Chief Secretary for Ireland for some time. However, his political life would soon come to an abrupt end, and he would sail to Europe to participate in the Napoleonic Wars.

Napoleonic Wars

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco de Goya, 1812-14.
Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco de Goya, 1812-14.

It was in the following years that Wellesley undertook the events that made his place in history. Since 1789, France had been embroiled in the French Revolution, and after seizing the government in 1799, Napoleon had reached the heights of power in Europe. The British government was casting about for ways to end Napoleon's threat; and Wellesley helped to supply them.

First came junior command in an expedition to Denmark in 1807, which soon led to Wellesley's promotion to Lieutenant-General and a transfer to the theatre of the Peninsular War. Although that war was not going particularly well, it was the one place where the Portuguese and the British had managed to put up a fight on the European mainland against France and her allies. (The disastrous Walcheren expedition was typical of the mismanaged British expeditions of the time.) Wellesley had submitted a memorandum to Lord Castlereagh on the defense of Portugal and Castlereagh appointed him head of an expeditionary force. Wellesley defeated the French at the Battle of Roliça and the Battle of Vimeiro in 1808. Unfortunately, Wellesley was superseded in command of the British army, and he was compelled to sign the controversial Convention of Cintra, which stipulated that the British navy would transport the French army out of Lisbon with all their loot; Wellesley was recalled to Britain to face a tribunal brought about by political opponents in Parliament. In the meantime, however, Napoleon himself had come to Spain with his veteran troops, and when the new Commander of the British forces in the peninsula, Sir John Moore, died during the Battle of Corunna, Wellesley (triumphantly acquitted) was sent back to Portugal to command the tiny British garrison still holding Lisbon.

Quickly reinforced, Wellesley took the offensive in April 1809. First, he crossed the Douro river in a brilliant daylight coup de main, and routed the French troops in Oporto. Then he joined with a Spanish army under Cuesta and defeated one of the armies of King Joseph of Spain (Napoleon's eldest brother) at the Battle of Talavera de la Reina in 1809. For this, he was raised to the Peerage as Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington in the County of Somerset. (His brother Richard selected the name Wellington for its similarity to the family name of Wellesley.) Deprived of supplies promised by the Spanish, the British were compelled to retreat to Portugal. When the French army under Marshall André Masséna invaded Portugal again (in 1810), he first slowed them down at Busaco, then blocked them from taking the Lisbon peninsula by his magnificently constructed earthwork Lines of Torres Vedras coupled with the waterborne protection of the British Royal Navy (the bloodless Battle of Lisbon). The baffled and starving French invasion forces retreated after six months. Wellesley followed and after several skirmishes, drove them out of Portugal entirely except for a small garrison at Almeida which was placed under siege. In 1811, Masséna attempted a return to Portugal, and Wellesley narrowly defeated the French at the twin battles of Fuentes de Oñoro and Albuera. In May 1811, he was promoted to General for his services in Portugal.

In 1812, by capturing the twin fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz (the 'Keys' guarding the roads into Portugal), Wellington was able to join his small British force to the resurgent Portuguese army, rebuilt by Beresford. Driving into Spain, he defeated the French yet again at Salamanca, then liberated the Spanish capital of Madrid. Around this time, he was created Earl of Wellington and given command of all Allied armies in Spain. But he failed to take the vital fortress of Burgos, due to a lack of siege equipment, and the French counterattack that year put the British forces in a precarious position. Nimbly, Wellington withdrew his army southward, and joining with the smaller corps commanded by Rowland Hill, retreated the combined allied army to his base in Portugal. Still, his victory at Salamanca had caused the French to withdraw all their troops from southern Spain and concentrate them in the north.

In 1813, Wellington led a new offensive, taking advantage of the withdrawal of many French troops for Napoleon's doomed invasion of Russia the previous year. He personally led a small force in a feint against the French centre, while the main army (commanded by Sir Thomas Graham) looped around the French right, leading to the rout of the French forces. Continuing to outflank the French lines, Wellington brought the French to battle at Vitoria, which hurled the enemy back into France and for which he was promoted to Field Marshal. (However, the British troops broke discipline to loot the abandoned French wagons instead of pursuing the beaten foe. Wellington, in his official after-battle report, furiously and famously called them "the scum of the earth, enlisted only for drink".) A few months later, after taking the small fortresses of Pamplona and San Sebastián, Wellington invaded France, and defeated the French army under Marshall Soult at the Battle of Toulouse. (Ironically, this occurred four days after Napoleon had already surrendered to the Allied armies of the Prussians, Russians, and Austrians.) Napoleon was then exiled to the island of Elba in 1814.

Hailed as the conquering hero, Wellington was created Duke of Wellington, a title still held by his descendants. (Since he had not returned to England during the entire Peninsular War, he was awarded all his patents of nobility in a remarkable ceremony lasting an entire day.) He was soon appointed Ambassador to France, then took Lord Castlereagh's place as First Plenipotentiary to the Congress of Vienna, where he strongly advocated allowing France to keep its place in the European balance of power. On 2 January 1815, the title of his Knighthood of the Bath was converted to Knight Grand Cross upon the expansion of that order.

On 26 February 1815, Napoleon escaped his gilded prison on Elba and returned to France. Regaining control of the country by May, he faced a reformation of the alliance against him. Wellington left Vienna to command the Anglo-Allied forces during the Waterloo Campaign. He formed up in Belgium, commanding the British army and the allied Dutch-Belgians alongside the Prussian forces under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. But the French defeated the Prussians at Ligny, and fought an inconclusive draw at Quatre Bras, so the British army retreated to a ridge on the Brussels road just south of the small town of Waterloo. Two days later, on 18 June, came the titanic Battle of Waterloo. After an all-day fight, the French Guard was dramatically repulsed by British volley fire, and the arrival of Prussian reinforcements turned Napoleon's defeat to a rout. The French Emperor abdicated once again (on 22 June), and was spirited away by the British to distant St Helena.

Wellington as soldier

The Iron Duke in bronze by John Steell with the Balmoral Hotel in the background.
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The Iron Duke in bronze by John Steell with the Balmoral Hotel in the background.

Despite oft-cited similarities between Napoleon Bonaparte and Wellington, the strategies and tactics employed by them were diametrically opposed. Perhaps the main reason that Napoleon stands in many history texts above Wellington is that Napoleon offered radical changes in warfare in every respect, whereas Wellington's contribution to warfare lay more in his brilliant use of the old ways.

Napoleonic tactics were typified by massive conscript armies who advanced in tight columns to rout opposing forces. This was soon adopted by nearly every major participant in the war, with the chief exception of the British, and the Portuguese and Spanish troops they trained. In almost every engagement, the tight-packed French columns (in which only the first two ranks and outer edges could fire) would advance, apparently unheeding of casualties. Against the ill-trained and panic-prone armies of the Austrians, Prussians, and the other allied powers, it was spectacularly successful. Against the disciplined and trained British regulars who stood in line in two ranks (thus permitting every man in line to fire), the column was a spectacular failure. Despite the demonstrated helplessness of the French column against the British line, the French commanders in Iberia continued to attack in column. (Indeed, column attacks were used even at the Battle of Waterloo.) Thus, in many instances, a single British battalion would defeat an entire French division.

Wellington is often viewed as a 'defensive general', despite the fact that many of his greatest victories (Assaye, Douro, Salamanca, Vitoria, Toulouse), were all offensive battles. In fact, on the defensive, Wellington made a number of mistakes, most famously at the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, where his disastrous misplacement of a division was only retrieved by his quick thinking and the steadiness of the British and Portuguese troops in retreating under fire.

Strategically, Wellington also appears somewhat anachronistic, with the Peninsular War revolving partly upon the possession and besieging of fortified strongholds. Conventional military wisdom of the era, especially under Napoleon, dictated that the opposing field army was to be eliminated at any price necessary, before disease and wastage could reduce the attacking force to nothing. In pursuit of this aim, desperate measures would be taken, such as winter battles, forced marches, and privation alleviated only by foraging. Wellington's campaigns instead displayed carefully planned offensives, supported by a magnificent supply train, and tempered by subsequent consolidation of gains.

In other strategic areas however, Wellington seemed to forecast the tide of the future. His construction of the fortifications near Torres Vedras, and the subsequent attritional campaign which ensued, seems to typify the manner that warfare would evolve within the following century. He also cooperated closely with the British navy, a necessity for success on the water-bound Iberian Peninsula.

Tactically, Wellington capitalized on the reforms of Sir John Moore and the Duke of York by creating large units of independent infantry, often armed with rifles, who fought in both regular and irregular fashion. His relationship with his cavalry arm — as well as his cavalry commanders — was infamously stern and demanding. Wellington was never satisfied with the performance of his cavalry, and he continued to consider them undisciplined in the charge stating:

"...a trick our officers have acquired of galloping at everything and then galloping back as fast as they galloped on the enemy. They never consider their situation, never think of manoeuvring before an enemy- so little that one would think they cannot manoeuvre except on Wimbledon Common; and when they use their arm as it ought to be used, viz. offensively, they never keep nor provide for a reserve."(Redcoat, p. 225)

However, Wellington and commanders such as William Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge and John Gaspard le Marchant made the cavalry arm among the most effective in the army, producing decisive results at Assaye, Salamanca, and Waterloo. The latter saw Uxbridge's use of two cavalry brigades to rout an entire French corps. (But the cavalry's indiscipline immediately after their magnificent charge destroyed their effectiveness for the rest of the day.)

Wellington should also be considered a model for multi-national leadership. He efficiently coordinated the efforts of Portuguese, Spanish, and a multitude of other foreign units, as well as negotiating with a home government not always sympathetic to his military concerns. It is a testament to Wellington's ability that he successfully integrated and commanded British, Spanish, Portuguese, Hanoverian, Saxon, Prussian, Swiss, Indian, Dutch, and Belgian troops; a retinue only Napoleon himself could probably match. In command of these forces, he was almost always outnumbered, and succeeded by the merits of his attention to detail and tactical foresight.

An important point when comparing Wellington and Napoleon is that whereas Napoleon was effectively supreme commander of the armed forces of his Empire, Wellington was merely a general in the field, with little or no influence on the organisation or administration of the British Army as a whole. He was driven to exasperation on several occasions, for example by the fact that his artillery and engineers were administered separately from the infantry and cavalry, and by the quality of some of the commanders and staff officers imposed on him by the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York. (For example, General Erskine was appointed second in command of the cavalry; Wellington considered him both incompetent and mad (bipolar), and only Erskine's suicide finally removed him from the scene.)

However, when he himself became Commander-in-Chief, he made no major changes to the Army's policies, maintaining practices such as purchase of commissions and flogging for disciplinary offences unchanged for almost forty years. He is often criticised for being 'brutal' in this respect, but it must be remembered that, good or bad, this was typical and accepted practice in the British armed forces at the time.

Later life

Politics beckoned once again in 1819, when Wellington was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance in the Tory government of Lord Liverpool. In 1827, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, a position he would hold for the remainder of his life, except during his premiership. Along with Robert Peel, Wellington became one of the rising stars of the Tory party, and by 1828, had become Prime Minister.

As Prime Minister, Wellington was the picture of the arch-conservative, fearing that the anarchy of the French Revolution would spread to England. Oddly enough, the highlight of his term was Catholic Emancipation, the granting of almost full civil rights to Catholics in the United Kingdom. The change was forced by the landslide by-election win of Daniel O'Connell, a Catholic proponent of emancipation, who was elected despite not being legally allowed to sit in Parliament. Lord Winchilsea accused the Duke of having "treacherously plotted the destruction of the Protestant constitution". Wellington responded by immediately challenging Winchilsea to a duel. The duel is also one of the reasons for the founding of King's College London. On 21 March 1829, Wellington and Winchilsea met on Battersea fields. When it came time to fire, the Duke deliberately aimed wide and Winchilsea fired into the air. He subsequently wrote Wellington a grovelling apology. In the House of Lords, facing stiff opposition, Wellington spoke for Catholic emancipation, giving one of the best speeches of his career [link]. He had grown up in Ireland, and later governed it, so he knew firsthand of the misery of the Catholic masses there. The Catholic Emancipation Act was passed with a majority of 105. Many of the Tories voted against the Act, and it passed only with the help of the Whigs

Wellington's government fell in 1830. In the summer and autumn of that year, a wave of riots (Swing Riots) swept the country. The Whigs had been out of power for all but a few years since the 1770s, and saw political reform in response to the unrest as the key to their return. Wellington stuck to the Tory policy of no reform and no expansion of the franchise, and as a result lost a vote of no confidence on 15 November 1830. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Lord Grey.

The Whigs introduced the first Reform Act, but Wellington and the Tories worked to prevent its passage. The bill passed in the House of Commons, but was defeated in the House of Lords. An election followed in direct response, and the Whigs were returned with an even larger majority. A second Reform Act was introduced, and defeated in the same way, and another wave of near insurrection swept the country. During this time, Wellington was greeted by a hostile reaction from the crowds at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and eventually the bill was passed after the Whigs threatened to have the House of Lords packed with their own followers if it were not. Though it passed, Wellington was never reconciled to the change; when Parliament first met after the first election under the widened franchise, Wellington is reported to have said "I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life". During this time, Wellington was gradually superseded as leader of the Tories by Robert Peel; when the Tories were brought back to power in 1834, Wellington declined to become Prime Minister, and Peel was selected instead. Unfortunately Peel was in Italy, and for three weeks in November and December 1834, Wellington acted as a caretaker, taking the responsibilities of Prime Minister and most of the other ministries. 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.

The Duke's funeral procession passing through Trafalgar Square.
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The Duke's funeral procession passing through Trafalgar Square.

Wellington retired from political life in 1846, although he remained Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, and returned briefly to the spotlight in 1848 when he helped organize a military force to protect London during that year of European revolution. He died at Walmer Castle (his honorary residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which he enjoyed and at which he hosted Queen Victoria) in 1852. Although in life he hated travelling by rail, his body was then taken by train to London, where he was given a state funeral - one of only a handful of British subjects to be honoured in that way (other examples are Nelson and Churchill) - and was buried in a sarcophagus of luxulyanite in St Paul's Cathedral.

Legacy

In 1838 a proposal to build a statue of Wellington resulted in the building of a giant statue of him on his horse Copenhagen, placed above the Arch at Constitution Hill in London directly outside Apsley House, his former London home, in 1846. The enormous scale of the 40 ton, 30 feet high monument resulted in its removal in 1883 and the following year it was transported to Aldershot where it still stands near the Royal Garrison Church.

The capital city of New Zealand is named Wellington in honour of Wellington. The city has a private preparatory school named Wellesley College and a private club, Wellesley Club. The city of Auckland, New Zealand, has a central city road named Wellesley Street after Arthur Wellesley.

HMS Iron Duke, named for Wellington, was the flagship of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe at the Battle of Jutland in World War I.

Titles and honours

Arms of Arthur Wellesley
Arms of Arthur Wellesley

British and Irish honours

International honours and titles

The Duke of Wellington stood as godfather to Queen Victoria's seventh child, Prince Arthur, in 1850. The Duke of Wellington and his godson shared the same birthdate, and as a toddler, young Arthur was encouraged to remind people that the Duke of Wellington was his godfather.

Styles

Nicknames

Apart from giving his name to "Wellington boots", the Duke of Wellington also had several nicknames.

In fiction

Wellington is a recurring character in the Richard Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell. In the film versions he was played by David Troughton for the first two instalments and Hugh Fraser for the remainder of the 14 movie series. He was also memorably (if unflatteringly) portrayed by Stephen Fry in the "Duel and Duality" episode of the BBC One comedy television series Blackadder as a shouting, blustering war maniac with a tendency of violence towards the lower orders (including the Prince Regent, who was at the time disguised as his own butler, Mr. E. Blackadder) and a penchant for duelling with cannon. Fry later reprised his role, this time in a more historically accurate manner, in [[Blackadder: Back & Forth]].

C. S. Forester invented a younger sister, "Lady Barbara Wellesley", as a character in his Horatio Hornblower novels.

There was a character in the recent film Corpse Bride, which was made to loosely resemble Wellington's appearance, with the same uniform, a monocle, and a cannonball hole in his chest.

In Susanna Clarke's novel "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", Wellington appears as the British Army's commanding officer in Portugal and Spain. He employs Jonathan Strange [whom he calls Merlin] to help defeat the French using magic which included moving roads, hills and cities throughout the countryside, bringing corpses to life, and manufacturing bad weather to confound the French.

Trivia

An interesting fact about Wellington is that he shaved twice a day due to rapid growth of facial hair. He was also insistent that he was not interrupted during shaving. This little tale is seen in Redcoats by Richard Holmes.

Never much of a gourmet, Wellington frequently drove his chef to frustration by his abstemious ways and general lack of interest in food, even eating a rotten egg on one occasion without realising it. Whilst on campaign he seldom ate anything between breakfast and dinner. During the retreat back to Portugal during 1811, he subsisted (to the despair of his staff who dined with him) on "cold meat and bread". He was however renowned for the excellent quality of the wine he drank and served (often drinking a bottle with his dinner - not a great quantity by the standards of his day).

The Duke of Wellington set a gruelling pace of work. He rose early - he "couldn't bear to lie" in once awake - and usually slept six hours or less. Even when he returned to civillian life after 1815, he slept in a camp bed, reflecting his lack of regard for creature comforts.

Although by no means ostentatious, the Duke was renowned for his fine sartorial taste (which, as mentioned above, helped earn him the nickname of "The Beau"). He was particularly fond of trousers - only just entering the gentleman's wardrobe during his life time. On one occasion the Duke was turned away from the Almack's Assembly Rooms (a popular haunt of high society) for wearing trousers rather than the more conventional knee breeches. Despite his luminary status, he quietly left without a word of protest.

As a member of the Protestant British squirearchy ruling Ireland, Wellington was touchy about his Irish origins. When an enthusiastic Gael commended him as a famous Irishman, he replied "A man can be born in a stable, and yet not be an animal."

The epigram "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton" was never said by Wellington (it was invented by a French journalist), and could not have been: he remembered his days at Eton as lonely and unhappy, his only sport being solitary leaps across a local brook, and he almost never visited the school in after years despite being its most famous alumnus.

The oft quoted phrase "Publish and be damned!" is attributed to Wellington, as what he said after the courtesan Harriette Wilson threatened to publish her memoirs and his letters if he did not supply her financial demands.

Until his early twenties, Wesley (as he was then known) showed no signs of distinction. His mother placed him in the army saying "What can I do with my Arthur?" He took the role of the young nobleman playboy, carousing and gambling. He fell in love with the daughter of a fellow Anglo-Irish peer and proposed marriage, but was rejected by her family for having no prospects. It seems likely that, at least in part, the shock of rejection caused him to reform all his bad habits; he minimized his drinking, stopped gambling and even burned his beloved fiddle. He also began a rigid course of self-education in military science, something that would be taught by no professional academy for another decade. He volunteered for service in the Netherlands and India, and achieved spectacular success, rising in a decade to general's rank, never losing a battle, and winning prize money from grateful rajahs. On returning to Ireland, he immediately renewed his marriage proposal to Miss Kitty Pakenham, before even meeting her again, or possibly even having corresponded with her for ten years. This time, her family accepted him, but he seems to have quickly come to regret his decision on seeing how Kitty had grown "old" in his absence. However, a promise was a promise; their marriage lasted the rest of her life, producing two sons and a great deal of loveless anguish.

During his first seven months as Prime Minister between 1828 and 1830, the Duke of Wellington chose not to live in Downing Street finding it too small. He only relented and moved in because his own home, Apsley House, required extensive renovations. He was also very fond of high-technology and mechanical gadgets.

The epithet "Iron Duke" originates from his period of Prime Minister, during which he experienced an extremely high degree of personal and political unpopularity. His residence at Apsley House was the constant target of window-smashers and iron shutters were installed to mitigate the damage. It was this rather than his characteristic, resolute constitution, that earned him the epithet of "The Iron Duke".

The Duke of Wellington's Government, January 1828 – November 1830

Changes

The Duke of Wellington's Caretaker Government November 1834 – December 1834

Other offices were in commission.

References

See also

External links

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