Duke of Wellington (title)
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| Dukedom of Wellington | |
|---|---|
 Quarterly 1st & 4th: Gules, a cross argent in each quarter five plates in saltire (Wellesley); 2nd & 3rd: Or, a lion rampant gules ducally collared gold (Cowley) over-all in the centre chief point an escutcheon of augmentation charged with the Union badge[1] | |
| Creation date | 3 May 1814 |
| Created by | The Prince Regent (acting on behalf of his father, King George III) |
| Peerage | Peerage of the United Kingdom |
| First holder | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington |
| Present holder | Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke |
| Heir apparent | Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington |
| Remainder to | the 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
| Subsidiary titles | Prince of Waterloo Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo Duke of Victoria Marquess of Wellington Marquess Douro Marquess of Torres Vedras Earl of Mornington Earl of Wellington Count of Vimeiro Viscount Wellesley Viscount Wellington Baron Mornington Baron Douro |
| Seat(s) | |
Duke of Wellington is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The name derived from Wellington in Somerset, and 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, Garret Wesley, had been granted the title of Earl of Mornington in 1760. His male-line ancestors were wealthy agricultural and urban landowners in both countries, among the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy. The dukedom has descended to 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.
The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Wellington are Marquess of Wellington (1812), Marquess Douro (1814), Earl of Mornington (1760 – but only inherited by the Dukes of Wellington in 1863), Earl of Wellington (1812), Viscount Wellesley (1760 – inherited in 1863), Viscount Wellington (1809), 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 Prince of Waterloo (Prins van Waterloo, 1815) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo (Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo, 1812) of the Kingdom of Spain, and 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.
Dukes of Wellington (1814)
| Created by the Prince Regent (on behalf of 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, Marquis of Torres Vedras, 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 Marquis of Torres Vedras Count of Vimeiro Earl of Mornington Viscount Wellesley Viscount Wellington Baron Douro Baron of 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 | ||
Title succession
Line of succession
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852)
- Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington (1807–1884)
- Lord Charles Wellesley (1808–1858)
- Arthur Wellesley (1845–1846)
- Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington (1846–1900)
- Arthur Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington (1849–1934)
- Arthur Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington (1876–1941)
- Henry Wellesley, 6th Duke of Wellington (1912–1943)
- Lord Richard Wellesley (1879–1914)
- Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington (1885–1972)
- Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington (1915–2014)
- Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington (b. 1945)
- (1) Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington (b. 1978)
- (2) Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellesley (b. 2010)
- (3) Lord Alfred Wellesley (b.2014)
- (4) Lord Frederick Wellesley (b. 1992)
- (1) Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington (b. 1978)
- (5) Lord Richard Wellesley (b. 1949)
- (6) Lord John Wellesley (b. 1954)
- (7) Gerald Wellesley (b. 1981)
- (8) Lord James Wellesley (b. 1956)[4]
- (9) Oliver Wellesley (b. 2005)
- Lord George Wellesley (1889–1947)
- Richard Wellesley (1920–1984)
- Charles Wellesley (1955–2009)
- John Wellesley (1962–2009)
- (10) Thomas Wellesley (b 2000)
- Richard Wellesley (1920–1984)
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.
| BARON MORNINGTON, 1746 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington (1690–1758) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EARL OF MORNINGTON, 1760 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Garret Wesley, 2nd Baron Mornington, 1st Earl of Mornington (1735–1781) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BARON WELLESLEY, 1797 MARQUESS WELLESLEY, 1799 | BARON MARYBOROUGH, 1821 | VISCOUNT WELLINGTON, 1809 EARL OF WELLINGTON, 1812 MARQUESS OF WELLINGTON, 1812 DUKE OF WELLINGTON, 1814 | BARON COWLEY, 1828 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Richard Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington, 1st Baron Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (1760–1842) | William Wellesley (Wellesley-Pole), 1st Baron Maryborough, 3rd Earl of Mornington (1763–1845) | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) | Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley (1773–1847) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EARL COWLEY, 1857 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| William Wellesley-Pole (Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley), 4th Earl of Mornington (1788–1857) | Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington 6th Earl of Mornington (1807–1884) | Henry Wellesley, 2nd Baron Cowley 1st Earl Cowley (1804–1884) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| William Richard Arthur Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, 5th Earl of Mornington (1813–1863) | Dukes of Wellington | Earls Cowley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
- ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p. 1140.
- ^ "No. 16894". The London Gazette. 3 May 1814. p. 936.
- ^ Elliott, George (1816). The Life of the Most Noble Arthur, Duke of Wellington. London: J. Cundee. p. xiii–xiv.
- ^ Wellesley, Jane (2008). A Journey Through My Family. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-85231-5.
- ^ Burke's Peerage
- ^ Lundy 2011, p. 10645 § 106449 cites Cokayne 2000, p. 235.
External links
- Duke of Wellington's Regiment
- An Online Gotha – Wellington
- Genealogical information on the Dukes of Vitória
- Genealogical information on the Marquesses of Torres Vedras
- Genealogical information on the Counts of Vimeiro
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Italics: This title is held by a peer who holds another of higher precedence. | ||