Duke of Wellington (title)

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Dukedom of Wellington
heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles
  • Earl of Wellington
  • Count of Vimeiro
  • Viscount Wellesley
  • Viscount Wellington
  • Baron Mornington
  • Baron Douro
    • Seat(s)
    MottoVirtutis Fortuna Comes (Fortune favours the brave)

    Duke of Wellington is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The name derived from Wellington in Somerset. The title was created in 1814 for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington (1769–1852; born as The Hon. Arthur Wesley), the Anglo-Irish military commander who is best known for leading the decisive victory with Field Marshal von Blücher over Napoleon's forces at Waterloo in Brabant (now Walloon Brabant, Belgium). Wellesley later served twice as British prime minister.

    The first Duke's father,

    heirs male of the body, along with eleven other hereditary titles
    .

    History

    The titles of Duke of Wellington and Marquess Douro were bestowed upon Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington, on 3 May 1814 after he returned home a hero following Napoleon's abdication.[2][3] He fought some sixty battles during his military career. He was considered "the conqueror of Napoleon". He stands as one of the finest soldiers that Great Britain and Ireland has ever produced, others being the 1st Duke of Marlborough and the 2nd Duke of Argyll.[citation needed]

    Following his victory at the Battle of Talavera, Wellesley was offered a peerage. The question was what title should he take. His brother, Richard Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, looked around and discovered that a manor in the parish of Wellington was available. It was also reasonably close to the family name. Because Arthur was still in Spain in command of the army fighting the French, Richard oversaw the purchase. By this process Arthur therefore became Marquess of Wellington. According to the book Wellington as Military Commander by Michael Glover, Arthur Wellesley first signed himself 'Wellington' on 16 September 1809. At the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Arthur Wellesley was already further elevated to the peerage rank of the Duke of Wellington. At the time he became Ambassador to France, The London Gazette of 4 June 1814 refers to him as having that title but suggests that it was granted by warrant on 25 August 1812.

    The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Wellington are Marquess of Wellington (1812), Marquess Douro (1814),

    Baron Mornington (1746 – also inherited in 1863), and Baron Douro (1809). The Viscountcy of Wellesley and the Barony and Earldom of Mornington are in the Peerage of Ireland; the rest are in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
    .

    Apart from the British titles, the Dukes of Wellington also hold the titles of

    Duke of Victoria (Duque da Vitória, 1812), with the subsidiary titles Marquess of Torres Vedras (Marquês de Torres Vedras, 1812) and Count of Vimeiro (Conde de Vimeiro, 1811) of the Kingdom of Portugal. These were granted to the first Duke as victory titles for his distinguished service as victorious commanding general in the Peninsular War (in Spain and Portugal) and at the Battle of Waterloo (in what is now Belgium
    ).

    The family seat is Stratfield Saye House, near Basingstoke, Hampshire. Apsley House, in London, is now owned by English Heritage, although the family retain an apartment there. He also has a large estate outside Granada, Spain, which was granted to the first duke by Spanish King Ferdinand VII as a reward for his services in the Peninsular War.

    Five Dukes have been created

    order of knighthood
    .

    Dukes of Wellington (1814)

    Dukes of Wellington
    1st Duke of Wellington
    The family seat since the first Duke's acquisition has been Stratfield Saye House
    Created by the
    George III
    )
    # Name Period Duchess Notes Other titles
    1 Arthur Wellesley (born Wesley)
    (1769–1852)     		1814–1852 The Hon. Catherine Pakenham British Army officer and statesman who defeated
    Napoleon I at Waterloo and Tipu Sultan at the Siege of Seringapatam (1799)
    		 Prince of Waterloo, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, Duke of Victoria, Marquess of Wellington, Marquess of Douro, Marquess of Torres Vedras, Earl of Wellington, Count of Vimeiro, Viscount Wellington, Baron Douro
    2 Arthur Richard Wellesley
    (1807–1884)     		1852–1884 Lady Elizabeth Hay Son of the preceding Prince of Waterloo,
    Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo,
    Duke of Victoria,
    Marquess of Wellington,
    Marquess of Douro,
    Marquess of Torres Vedras,
    Count of Vimeiro, Earl of Wellington
    Earl of Mornington,
    Viscount Wellesley,
    Viscount Wellington,
    Baron Douro,
    Baron Mornington
    3 Henry Wellesley
    (1846–1900)     		1884–1900 Evelyn Williams Nephew of the preceding
    4 Arthur Charles Wellesley
    (1849–1934)     		1900–1934 Kathleen Williams Brother of the preceding
    5 Arthur Charles Wellesley
    (1876–1941)     		1934–1941 Hon. Lilian Coats Son of the preceding
    6 Henry Valerian George Wellesley
    (1912–1943)     		1941–1943 unmarried Son of the preceding
    7 Gerald Wellesley
    (1885–1972)     		1943–1972 Dorothy Ashton Uncle of the preceding
    8 Arthur Valerian Wellesley
    (1915–2014)     		1972–2014 Diana McConnel Son of the preceding
    9 Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley
    (born 1945)     		2014–present
    Princess Antonia of Prussia
    		 Son of the preceding

    Line of succession

    Should the direct male line of succession from the first Duke of Wellington become extinct, the dukedom and its subsidiary titles in the British peerage will become extinct, as will the titles of Prince of Waterloo in the Dutch peerage and the dukedom of the Victory and its subsidiary titles in the Portuguese peerage. The dukedom of Ciudad Rodrigo in the Spanish peerage, together with its subsidiary titles, will continue to be held in the female line of descendants of the first Duke. The earldom and barony of Mornington, along with the viscountcy of Wellesley, which are all titles in the Irish peerage, will revert to the line of the Earl Cowley, a male-line descendant of a younger brother of the first Duke of Wellington.


    The Colley or Cowley family had come to Ireland from Glaston, in Rutland about 1500; Sir Henry Colley was elevated to the Peerage as Lord Glaston by Henry VIII. He married the daughter of Thomas Cusack, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Catherine Wellesley Cusack (d. 1598) whose grandmother was a Wellesley.[5] Upon the death of his cousin Garret Wesley and his inheritance of the Estates of Dangan and Mornington, Richard Colley (d. 1758) and his wife Elizabeth Sale (d. 17 June 1738) daughter of John Sale, Registrar of the Diocese of Dublin, on 23 December 1719.[6] adopted the name Wellesley (from both Elizabeth's maternal family side from Catherine Wellesley Cusack her grandmother) and through her Husband's Family, his cousin, Garret Wesley (Wellesley).

    See also

    References

    1. ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p. 1140.
    2. ^ "No. 16894". The London Gazette. 3 May 1814. p. 936.
    3. ^ Elliott, George (1816). The Life of the Most Noble Arthur, Duke of Wellington. London: J. Cundee. p. xiii–xiv.
    4. ISBN 978-0-297-85231-5
      .
    5. ^ Burke's Peerage
    6. ^ Cokayne 2000, p. 235.

    Works cited

    • Cokayne, G.E. (2000), The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, vol. IX (new, reprint in 6 volumes ed.), Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, p. 235

    External links

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