Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of (1769-1852), soldier, statesman, b. Dublin, Ireland.

Arthur Wellesley joined the British Army at the age of eighteen as an ensign.

Before he was thirty-five, he was a major-general and had fought in Flanders and India.

From 1808-14, British troops fought Napoleon's French armies in Spain and Portugal.

In 1809, Wellesley was made commander of these troops and won victory after victory over the French.

In 1814, he advanced into France and defeated the French at Toulouse. At this, Napoleon gave up his throne and went into exile and the war ended.

Back in England, King George III made Wellesley the Duke of Wellington and Parliament gave him -£400,000. But Napoleon escaped from exile and raised a new army in France.

On 18 June, 1815, Wellington defeated him in the Battle of Waterloo not far from Brussels in Belgium. Afterwards Wellington became a member of the Government and was Prime Minister from 1828-30.

Many people disagreed with things he said in Parliament at this time and in 1831, on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, angry crowds broke the windows of his house in London. Yet in later years, the 'Iron Duke', as the French called him, was one of the most popular men in England.

See Richard Holmes Wellington