Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, the third surviving son of the Earl of Mornington (1735–1781), and his wife, Anne (1742–1831), was born in Dublin on 1st May 1769. According to his biographer, Norman Gash: "Arthur lost his father at the age of twelve and was thought by his imperious mother to be foolish and dull in comparison with his elder brothers, Richard Wellesley, second earl of Mornington, and William Wellesley-Pole, later Baron Maryborough and third earl of Mornington. His only talents seemed to be for playing the violin (which may have come from his father, who was an accomplished amateur musician) and arithmetical calculation. But these minor gifts were obscured by his physical indolence and social awkwardness: signs perhaps of an unhappy and lonely childhood."
In 1781 he went to Eton College where he was "an unsociable and occasionally aggressive schoolboy who made little effort to learn." Arthur was removed from the college in the summer of 1784 and joined his mother in Brussels. After receiving French lessons he was sent to the Academy of Equitation at Angers in January 1786. In addition to fencing, horsemanship, and the science of fortification, there were lessons in mathematics, grammar, and dancing.
In March 1787 a commission was obtained for Wellesley as ensign in the 73rd foot, a Highland regiment then in India. Family connections enabled him to be appointed as aide-de-camp to George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, the lord lieutenant of Ireland. In December he was commissioned as lieutenant in the 76th foot and by June 1789 had been transferred to the 12th light dragoons. The following year he became a member of the Irish House of Commons for the family borough of Trim.
In June 1791 he was commissioned as captain in the 58th foot, before moving to the 18th light dragoons in October 1792. Norman Gash has pointed out: "In little more than five years he had held commissions in six different regiments, though there is no evidence that he served with any of them. As aide-de-camp in Dublin, member of the Irish House of Commons, and manager of the family estate at Dangan, he had more than sufficient occupation. His leisure pursuits were more conventional: drinking, gambling, and getting into debt. But he still played his violin and was showing an interest in serious reading."
Primary Sources
(1) Harriet Arbuthnot, the wife of Charles Arbuthnot, the Tory M.P., was a close friend of the Duke of Wellington. Harriet Arbuthnot kept a diary during 1830.
4th November, 1830: Parliament was opened by the King on the 2nd. He was very well received by the people who, however, were very disorderly, hooted and hissed the Duke wherever they could see him. People complain that the Duke did harm by declaring publicly he would not lend himself to any reform and that he thought, in its results, no form of representation could be better than ours. I don't believe there will be any disturbance. The wretched state to which Belgium is reduced by their desire for reform is a pretty good lesson for sober and reflecting people such as we are.
7th November, 1830: We hear the radicals are determined to make a riot. The King gets quantities of letters every day telling him he will be murdered. The King is very much frightened and the Queen cries half the day with fright.
The Duke is greatly affected by all this state of affairs. He feels that beginning reform is beginning revolution, and therefore he must endeavour to stem the tide as long as possible, and that all he has to do is to see when and how it will be best for the country that he should resign. He thinks he cannot till he is beat in the House of Commons. He talked about this with me yesterday.
(2) John Cab Hobhouse, a Whig politician, kept a journal in 1830.
The Duke of Wellington made a speech in the Lords, and declared against Reform. I hear he was hissed, and hurt by a stone. I heard this evening (November 4th) that a very unpleasant feeling was rising among the working classes, and that the shopkeepers in the Metropolis were so much alarmed that they talked of arming themselves.
(3) Charles Greville, Clerk of the Privy Council, kept a journal in 1830.
8th November, 1830: The Duke of Wellington made a violent and uncalled for declaration against Reform, which has without doubt sealed his fate. Never was there an act of more egregious folly, or one so universally condemned by friends and foes.
(4) Letters from the Duke of Wellington to Harriet Arbuthnot (April/May, 1831)
(28th April) I learn from John that the mob attacked my House and broke about thirty windows. He fired two blunderbusses in the air from the top of the house, and they went off.
(29th April) I think that my servant John saved my house, or the lives of many of the mob - possibly both - by firing as he did. They certainly intended to destroy the house, and did not care one pin for the poor Duchess being dead in the house.
(1st May) Matters appear to be going as badly as possible. It may be relied upon that we shall have a revolution. I have never doubted the inclination and disposition of the lower orders of the people. I told you years ago that they are rotten to the core. They are not bloodthirsty, but they are desirous of plunder. They will plunder, annihilate all property in the country. The majority of them will starve; and we shall witness scenes such as have never yet occurred in any part of the world.
(5) James Grant, Random Recollections of the House of Lords (1836)
One of the greatest defects in the character of the Duke as a statesman is, his neither anticipating public opinion, nor keeping abreast with it. He generally resists it until it has acquired an overwhelming power. Had he, when in office, only granted a moderate measure of uniform, the nation would have been satisfied at least for a time, and he might still have been Prime Minister of the country.
The Duke of Wellington is not a good speaker. His style is rough and disjointed. His manner of speaking is much worse than his diction. He has a bad screeching sort of voice, aggravated by an awkward mode of mouthing the words. His enunciation is so bad, owing in some measure to the loss of several of his teeth, that often, when at the full stretch of his voice, you do not know what particular words he is using.
(6) Duke of Wellington, letter to Mr. Gleig (11th April, 1831)
The conduct of government would be impossible, if the House of Commons should be brought to a greater degree under popular influence. That is the ground on which I stand in respect to the question in general of Reform in Parliament.
I confess that I see in thirty members for rotten boroughs, thirty men, I don't care of what party, who would preserve the state of property as it is; who would maintain by their votes the Church of England, its possessions, its churches and universities. I don't think that we could spare thirty or forty of these representatives, or with advantage exchange them for thirty or forty members elected for the great towns by any new system.
At a quarter past twelve o'clock, the Royal carriage in which their Majesties were seated, without attendants, reached the village of Hounslow. The postillions passed on at a rapid rate till they entered the town of Brentford; where the people, who had assembled in great numbers, expressed by groans, hisses, and exclamations, their disapprobation of his Majesty's conduct with respect to the Administration. The Duke of Wellington had entered the Palace in full uniform about a quarter of an hour before the Majesties, and had been assailed by the people with groans and hisses. The Duke of Wellington, after remaining more than three hours with his Majesty, left about a quarter-past four, amidst groans and hisses even more vehement than when he arrived. Lord Frederick Fitzclarence was received with the same disapprobation, and loud cries of "Reform".
The Duke of Wellington was astonishing the world by a strange intimacy he has struck up with Miss Coutts with whom he passes his life, and all sorts of reports have been rife of his intention to marry her. Such are the lamentable appearances of decay in his vigorous mind, which are the more to be regretted because he is in Most enviable circumstances, without ny political responsibility, vet associated with public affairs, and surrounded with every sort of respect and consideration on every side - at Court, in Parliament, in society, and in the country.
