Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, KP, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (c. 29 April/1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the nineteenth century. Born in Ireland to a prominent Ascendancy family, he was commissioned an ensign in the British Army in 1787. Serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland he was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. A colonel by 1796, Wellesley saw action in the Netherlands and later India where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was later appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore. Wellesley rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a Dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. An opponent of parliamentary reform, he was given the epithet the "Iron Duke" because of the iron shutters he had fixed to his windows to stop the pro-reform mob from breaking them. He was twice Prime Minister under the Tory party and oversaw the passage of the Catholic Relief Act 1829. He was Prime Minister from 1828–30 and served briefly in 1834. He was unable to prevent the passage of the Reform Act of 1832 and continued as one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement. He remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death in 1852. The earliest mention of the Wellesley family is in 1180. It places Wellington’s ancestry among the conquering elite of the Norman invasion in 1066: the family had been granted lands to the south of Wells around a settlement still known as Wellesley Farm. As well as Wellesley ancestors, "Wesley" was inherited from the childless wealthy husband of an aunt when, in 1728, Wellington's patrilineal grandfather Garret Colley, a landlord who lived at Rahin near Carbury, County Kildare, changed his surname to Wesley.[1] The Colleys had lived in that part of Kildare since the Norman Invasion of Ireland in 1169–72. In 1917 the Kildare historian Lord Walter FitzGerald, stated that: "... Elizabethan Castle which since 1588 has been in the possession of the family of Cowley or Colley, from whom the Dukes of Wellington are descended in the direct male line".[2] Wellington was born "The Honourable Arthur Wesley", the fourth son - third of five surviving sons - to Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, and Anne, the eldest daughter of Arthur Hill, Viscount Dungannon. He was most likely born at 24 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, opposite what was then the Royal College of Science and which is now Government Buildings.[3] His biographers mostly follow the contemporary newspaper evidence in saying he was born 1 May 1769,[4] the day he was baptised.[5] Other places have been put forward as the location of his birth: Mornington House, Dublin - as his father claimed; the house next door which is no longer there; the Dublin packet boat; and the family estate of Athy, as the Duke apparently put on his 1851 census return, which is now burnt.[6] He spent most of his childhood at his family's two homes, the first a large house in Dublin and the second, Dangan Castle, 5 km north of Summerhill on the Trim road in County Meath, part of the Province of Leinster.[7] In 1781 Arthur's father died and his eldest brother Richard inherited his father's earldom.[8] Two of his other brothers were later raised to the peerage as Baron Maryborough and Baron Cowley. He went to the diocesan school in Trim when at Dangan, Mr. Whyte's Academy when in Dublin, and at Brown's School in Chelsea when in London. He then enrolled at Eton, where he studied from 1781 to 1784.[8] (His loneliness there caused him to hate it, and makes it highly unlikely that he actually said, "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton."; moreover, Eton had no playing fields at the time.). A lack of success at Eton, combined with a shortage of family funds from his father's death, led to a move to Brussels in Belgium with his mother in 1785.[9] Until his early twenties, Arthur continued to show little sign of distinction and his mother grew increasingly concerned at his idleness, stating, "I don't know what I shall do with my awkward son Arthur."[9] A year later, Arthur was enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he progressed significantly, becoming a good horseman and learning French, which was later to prove very useful.[10] Upon returning to England in late 1786, he astonished his mother with his improvement.[11] Despite his new promise he had yet to find a job and his family was still short of money, so upon the advice of his mother, his brother Richard asked his friend the Duke of Rutland (then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland) to consider Arthur for a commission in the army.[11] Soon after, on 7 March 1787 he was gazetted ensign in the 73rd Regiment of Foot.[12] In October, with the assistance of his brother, he was assigned as aide-de-camp, on ten shillings a day (twice his pay as an ensign), to the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Buckingham.[12] He was also transferred to the new 76th Regiment forming in Ireland and on Christmas Day, 1787, was promoted to Lieutenant.[12] During his time in Dublin his duties were mainly social; attending balls, entertaining guests and providing advice to Buckingham. While in Ireland, he over extended himself in borrowing due to his occasional gambling, but in his defence stated that "I have often known what it was to be in want of money, but I have never got helplessly into debt".[13] Two years later, in June 1789, he transferred to the 12th Light Dragoons, still as a lieutenant and according to his biographer, Richard Holmes he also dipped a reluctant toe into politics.[13] Shortly before the general election of 1789, he went to the "rotten borough" of Trim to speak against the granting of the title "Freeman" of Dublin to the parliamentary leader of the Irish nationalist movement, Henry Grattan.[14] Succeeding, he was later nominated and duly elected as a Member of Parliament for Trim in the Irish House of Commons.[15] Because of the limited suffrage at the time, he sat in a parliament where at least two-thirds of the members owed their election to the landowners of fewer than a hundred boroughs.[15] Wellesley continued to serve at Dublin Castle, voting with the government in the Irish parliament over the next two years and in 1791 he became a Captain and was transferred to the 18th Light Dragoons.[15] It was during this period that he grew increasingly attracted to Kitty Pakenham, the daughter of the Earl of Longford.[16] She was described as being full of 'gaiety and charm'.[17] Seeking permission to marry her in 1793 he was turned down by her brother, the new Earl of Longford who considered Wellesley to be a young man, in debt, with very poor prospects.[18] An aspiring amateur musician, Wellesley, devastated by the rejection, burnt his violins in anger, and resolved to pursue a military career in earnest.[19] Gaining further promotion (largely by purchasing his rank, which was common in the British Army at the time), he became a Major in the 33rd Regiment in 1793.[16] A few months later, in September, his brother lent him more money and with it he purchased a lieutenant colonelcy in the 33rd.[20] In 1793, the Duke of York was sent to Flanders in command of the British contingent of an allied force destined for the invasion of France. In 1794, the 33rd regiment was sent to join the force and Wellesley set sail from Cork for Flanders in June, destined for his first real battle experience.[20] During the campaign he rose to command a brigade and in September Wellesley's unit came under fire just east of Breda, just before the Battle of Boxtel.[21] For the latter part of the campaign, during the winter, his unit defended the line of the Waal River, during which time he became ill for a while, owing to the damp environment.[22] Though the campaign was to prove unsuccessful, with the Duke of York's force returning in 1795, Wellesley was to learn several valuable lessons, including the use of steady fire lines against advancing columns and of the merits of supporting sea-power.[21] He concluded that many of the campaign's blunders were due to the faults of the leaders and the poor organisation at Headquarters.[23] He remarked later of his time in the Netherlands that "At least I learned what not to do, and that is always a valuable lesson."[23] Returning to England in March 1795, he was returned as a Member of Parliament for Trim for a second time.[24] He hoped to be given the position of secretary of war in the new Irish government but the new lord-lieutenant, Lord Camden, was only able to offer him the post of Surveyor-General of the Ordnance.[24] Declining the post, he returned to his regiment, now at Southampton preparing to set sail for the West Indies. After seven weeks at sea, a storm forced the fleet back to Poole, England.[24] The 33rd was given time to convalesce and a few months later, Whitehall decided to send the regiment to India. Wellesley was promoted full colonel by seniority a few weeks later and in 1796 set sail for Calcutta with his regiment.[25] Arriving in Calcutta in February 1797 he spent several months there, before being sent on a brief expedition to the Philippines, where he established a list of new hygiene precautions for his men to deal with the unfamiliar climate.[26] Returning in November to India, he learnt that his elder brother Richard, now known as Lord Mornington, had been appointed as the new Governor-General of India.[27] As part of the campaign to extend the rule of the British East India Company, the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out in 1798 against the Sultan of Mysore, Tippoo Sultan.[28] Arthur's brother Richard ordered that an armed force be sent to capture Seringapatam and defeat Tippoo. Under the command of General Harris, some 24,000 troops were dispatched to Madras (to join an equal force being sent from Bombay in the west).[29] Arthur and the 33rd sailed to join them in August.[30]