1st duke of wellington biography of williams

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So the two men missed confronting one another, and only came face to face for the first and last time at the battle of Waterloo six years later.

Having resumed command in Portugal in 1809, Wellesley - aided at all times by the Portuguese army and the Spanish guerrillas - spent the next five years trying to expel the French from the Peninsula.

Wellington was appointed Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot in January 1806.

April 1806 was a busy month for Arthur Wellesley: he was elected as MP for the borough of Rye on 1 April; on 10th he married Catherine Pakenham in Dublin. Parliament gave him several grants of money in recognition of his achievements in the French Wars including a £15,000 annuity in 1814 and £200,000 in 1815 to buy an estate: he purchased Stratfield Saye in Hampshire..

Sir John Moore was left in command of the army in the Peninsular. He failed to shine at Eton, and instead attended private classes in Brussels, followed by a military school in Angers.

Ironically, the young duke had no desire for a military career.

He had little interest in education and appeared to be uncomfortable with society life.

In order to find something which "poor Arthur" could do, his parents purchased a commission as an ensign for him in the 73rd Regiment of Foot in May 1787; in December he became a Lieutenant in the 76th Foot and the following month he transferred to the 41st in Dublin.

Wellington also took the opportunity of Huskisson's resignation to remove all the other Canningites who were in his Cabinet.

"Number 1, London": Apsley House, the London home of the Duke of Wellington. He later became Leader of the House of Lords, and upon Sir Robert Peel’s resignation in 1846, retired from politics.

In 1848 he organised a military force to protect London against possible Chartist violence at the large meeting at Kennington Common.

‘The Iron Duke’ died in September 1852 after a series of seizures.

In 1807 Wellington found himself elected as MP for Mitchell in Cornwall, Newport on the Isle of Wight and for Tralee in County Kerry. She was described by contemporaries as unaffected and simple-minded. After lying in state in London, he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

The Wellington Arch still stands in London’s Hyde Park.

He was in Vienna when, in March 1815, the news arrived that the ex-Emperor Napoleon had escaped from exile on the island of Elba. She was the daughter of Baron Longford, also one of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. He was reappointed by Goderich in August 1827 and then became PM in his own right on 22 January 1828. Kitty was over-emotional, self-critical, and easily depressed.

Pausing only to declare Napoleon an international outlaw, Wellington went to take up command of the Anglo-Allied army in Brussels. He was important as a diplomat in the years following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1814 and then after Waterloo in June 1815:

August 1814      Wellington took up residence in Paris as Ambassador to France

April-March 1815      he was Britain's representative at the Congress of Vienna

July-November 1815      (after Waterloo) he was commander of the army of occupation in France; he was Britain's delegate to the Congress of Aix la Chapelle

October-November 1822      he was Britain's delegate to the Congress of Verona

February-May 1826      Wellington was sent to Russia to try to avert a Russo-Turkish war over Greece.

London, 1992.

Longford, E. The Years of the Sword. His victories in Mysore, at Srirangapatna and over Dhoondiah Waugh won him promotion to major-general.

In the Mahratta Wars, in September 1803, Wellesley won the famous victory of Assaye. He chose Newport.