Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was a British soldier and statesman, a native of Ireland, from the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Duke of Wellington", even after his death, when there have been subsequent Dukes of Wellington.
Wellesley was commissioned as 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 in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799, and as a newly appointed major-general won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye in 1803.
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was a British soldier and statesman, a native of Ireland, from the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Duke of Wellington", even after his death, when there have been subsequent Dukes of Wellington.
Wellesley was commissioned as 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 in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799, and as a newly appointed major-general won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye in 1803.