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Portrait of Duke of Wellington

Prime Ministers · 19th century

Duke of Wellington

1769–1852 · Anglo-Irish (British)

Tory

In office: 1828–1830; 1834

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the "Iron Duke", was the soldier who won the Peninsular War and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. As Prime Minister (1828–1830) he reluctantly carried Catholic emancipation in 1829, which led to a duel with the Earl of Winchilsea, but his flat refusal to consider parliamentary reform brought down his government in 1830. He briefly held power again as caretaker in late 1834 while Peel returned from Italy.

How to spot them

  • ▸The Iron Duke; victor of Waterloo (1815) and the Peninsular War
  • ▸Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, despite opposing it earlier
  • ▸Duel with the Earl of Winchilsea in Battersea Fields, 1829
  • ▸Apsley House, 'Number One, London'
  • ▸'Publish and be damned'

In office

Catholic Emancipation (Roman Catholic Relief Act) (1829)

Passed to avert crisis in Ireland after Daniel O'Connell won the County Clare by-election

Duel with the Earl of Winchilsea in Battersea Fields (1829)

Fought over Catholic emancipation; neither man was hurt

Government falls after declaring the constitution needs no reform (1830)

His anti-reform statement in the Lords brought in Grey's Whigs

Metropolitan Police Act passed by his Home Secretary (1829)

Robert Peel created the Metropolitan Police under his government

Caretaker premiership holding several offices at once (1834)

Kept government going for about three weeks until Peel returned from Italy

Quick-fire facts

  • •Victor over Napoleon at Waterloo, 18 June 1815, with Blücher's Prussians
  • •Won the Battle of Assaye in India (1803), which he considered among his finest victories
  • •Built the Lines of Torres Vedras to defend Lisbon in the Peninsular War
  • •Lived at Apsley House, Hyde Park Corner, known as 'Number One, London'
  • •Said 'Publish and be damned' when the courtesan Harriette Wilson threatened to print her memoirs
  • •Present at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830), when William Huskisson was killed
  • •Wellington boots and the capital of New Zealand are named after him
  • •Given a state funeral in 1852 and buried in St Paul's Cathedral

Drill it — 7 cards

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Sources