Arthur Wellesley Wellington, duke of, a British soldier, born at Dangan castle, county Meath, or in Dublin, on or shortly before May 1, 1769, died at Walmer castle, near Deal, England, Sept. 14, 1852. He was the third son of Garret, first earl of Mornington, descended from the families of Wesley or Wellesley and Cowley or Colley, both of Anglo-Saxon origin, but long settled in Ireland. He was educated at Eton and the military school of Angers, France, and in 1787 was commissioned ensign. In January, 1795, as lieutenant colonel, he commanded the brigade which covered the retreat of the British force from Flanders. In 1796 he went as colonel with his regiment to India. In 1799, in the war waged by his brother (see Wellesley) with Tippoo Sultan, he took part in the victory of Malaveli and in the storming of Seringapatam, and was appointed governor of Mysore., In April, 1802, he was made major general. In 1803, in the Mahratta war, he occupied Poonah and took Ahmednuggur; on Sept. 23, with 2,000 British and 2,500 native troops and 18 guns, defeated a force of 26,000 infantry, 30,000 horse, and 100 guns at Assaye; and on Nov. 29 routed the Mahrattas at Argaum. He returned to England in March, 1805, and soon after entered parliament.

In 1807 he was appointed chief secretary for Ireland, but accompanied the expedition which captured the Danish fleet at Copenhagen, commanding a part of the land force, received the thanks of parliament on his return, and resumed his office. In April, 1808, he was made lieutenant general and put in command of the force for the Peninsular war. He landed at Mondego bay Aug. 1,.marched toward Lisbon, on the 17th defeated Laborde at Rolica, and on the 21st repulsed Junot at Vimeiro. After the convention of Cintra and the French evacuation of Portugal, he returned to England, and in January, 1809, resumed his seat in parliament. In April he went to Lisbon as commander-inchief of the Peninsular forces, the Portuguese regency also making him marshal general of its army. The British had suffered severe reverses. The French occupied a large part of Spain; in Portugal, Soult at Oporto held the N. part, and the E. part was menaced by Victor at Merida and by King Joseph at Madrid. Beresford marched against Soult, and on May 12 captured Oporto, the French retreating across the mountains into Spain. On July 27 and 28 Wellesley, with 22,000 British troops and the undisciplined Spanish levies commanded by the incapable Cuesta, defeated 50,000 French at Talavera; but he was unable to follow the retreating army, the blunders of Cuesta compelling him to fall back, and the French reoccupied the place.

The British army was suffering for want of supplies; dysentery was epidemic; 5,000 men died in hospital; and of the whole force but few were fit for duty. Falling back to the Portuguese frontier, Wellesley began his triple line of intrenchments at Torres Vedras, which, with the naturally strong ground, was to give him a defensive position 30 m. in extent, flanked on one side by the Tagus and on the other by the Atlantic. On Sept. 4 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Douro of Wellesley and Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Somerset. By the close of the year Napoleon had sent 365,000 men across the Pyrenees, and Soult with one army overran Andalusia, while Massena with another marched against Wellington. The British still held their posts on the borders of Spain, and neither the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo nor the investment of Almeida could tempt Wellington from his position. On Aug. 4, 1810, he ordered the people of all that part of Portugal which he could not protect to evacuate their homes, drive off their cattle, and destroy such stores as they could not carry. The army then fell back upon Torres Vedras, accompanied by crowds of fugitives, some of whom took refuge in Lisbon, while the rest fled to the provinces far from the scene of war.

Massena, following, found the country laid waste and destitute of supplies. On Sept. 27 Wellington repulsed him at Busaco, and on Oct. 8 entered the lines of Torres Vedras. On the 10th Masséna was in front of these works, which mounted 600 guns. The British fleet in the Tagus reenforced the defenders, and by the end of the month there were nearly 100,000 allies within the lines. In November Massena retreated, Wellington followed him across the frontier, invested Almeida, and went to confer with Beresford near Badajoz, which had surrendered to Soult. Massena turned to attack the allies in their leader's absence; but Wellington came back in time to repel the assaults, May 3 and 5,1811, at Fuentes de Onoro, and soon after Almeida fell. Portugal could now organize troops, but before making offensive movements Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz must be recovered. The first Wellington carried by assault, Jan. 19, 1812, for which he was made earl of Wellington, Spanish duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Portuguese marquis of Torres Vedras; and on the night of April 6 Badajoz was taken. To prevent Soult from joining Marmont or Joseph Bonaparte, Wellington destroyed the bridge over the Tagus at Almaraz, and moved against Marmont, who fell back till the Douro was between them.

On July 21 both armies crossed the Tormes, and on the next day was fought the battle of Salamanca. Marmont, to cut off Wellington from Portugal, extended his left toward Ciudad Rodrigo. Wellington made a rapid change of front to the right; this Marmont mistook for a retreat, and further extended his left to intercept the British. Wellington strengthened his right, fell on the French in front and flank, crushed their left wing, drove back their centre, and completely routed them in a short, sharp action, which a French officer described as " beating 40,000 men in 40 minutes." The results were the evacuation of Madrid, which the allies entered on Aug. 12, the raising of the siege of Cadiz, and the freeing of Andalusia and Castile from military occupation. Wellington's investment of Burgos to open a northern line of operations was a failure. Soult had joined Joseph Bonaparte, Marmont had reënforced and reorganized his army, and Wellington retreated toward Portugal, finally halting on the banks of the Aguada. The failure before Burgos and the evacuation of Spain called out the severest censure; but the prince regent made Wellington a marquis, parliament gave him £200,000, large reenforcements, especially of cavalry, were forwarded, and in 1813 he resumed the offensive with 200,000 men.

The French, with a little larger force, stretched across Spain from Valencia to Galicia. Wellington moved against their centre on the Douro, forced Joseph Bonaparte across the Ebro, and then changed his base to the N. coast of Spain, suddenly appearing on the flank of the retreating French. In the battle of Vitoria, June 21, the British attacked the enemy at several points simultaneously, which resulted in a disorderly flight of the French toward Pamplona, and the capture by the victors of an immense quantity of plunder, baggage, supplies, and artillery. The main French army was driven into the Pyrenees, and all Spain except Catalonia and Aragon was free. For this Wellington was made a field marshal. Soult now commanded the French army, with the advanced posts of St. Sebastian and Pamplona; and while Graham laid siege to the former place and O'Donnell's Spanish force to the latter, Wellington covered both operations by pushing his main body between them to the passes of the Pyrenees from Fuenterrabia to Roncesvalles, where he had a series of engagements with Soult, and drove him into France. On Aug. 31 St. Sebastian was taken by storm. Oh Oct. 7 Wellington crossed the Bidassoa, cut off Soult from Bayonne, and blockaded 13,000 men in garrison in that fortress.

He issued stringent orders to protect the population, but could not restrain his allies from plunder, and so sent them back to Spain. On Oct. 31 Pamplona surrendered. On Feb. 27, 1814, Wellington defeated Soult at Orthez, and sending Beresford to occupy Bordeaux, he forced Soult back to Toulouse, and there again defeated him on April 10. He entered the city on the 12th, heard of the occupation of the French capital by the allies, and left for Paris on the 30th. In May he was made duke. In June he returned to London, where he received the thanks of parliament and a pension of £10,000. In August he was sent as ambassador to Paris. In January, 1815, he replaced Lord Castlereagh in the congress of Vienna. When Napoleon returned from Elba Wellington urged the sending of a large force to the Netherlands, of which he took command in April, fixing his headquarters at Brussels. On June 18 he fought his final battle. (See Waterloo.) On June 21 he crossed the French frontier and marched upon Paris, where on his arrival an armistice was concluded. In his treatment of the vanquished he showed himself superior to Blücher, Gneisenau, and other allied generals.

His share of Waterloo prize money was £60,000. The king of the Netherlands made him prince of Waterloo. In 1817 the British nation gave him the estate of Strathfieldsaye, Hampshire, costing £263,000. In 1818 he was made field marshal of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, attended the congress of Aix-laChapelle, and sat in parliament, where he rarely took part in debate, but steadily voted with the tories. On Jan. 1, 1819, he was made master general of ordnance, thus obtaining a seat in the cabinet, which he held till the dissolution of the Liverpool ministry in February, 1827. In October, 1819, he was gazetted governor of Plymouth. In 1822 he attended the congress of Verona, in 1826 was ambassador at St. Petersburg, and in 1827 succeeded the duke of York as commander-in-chief. From January, 1828, to November, 1830, he was prime minister, resigning his command of the army, but resuming it in 1842 and holding it till his death. During his premiership he assented to the Catholic emancipation bill, which he had previously opposed, his change of opinion leading to many newspaper attacks, and to a duel with Lord Winchelsea in which neither was harmed. In 1829 he was made governor of Dover and warden of the cinque ports.

In 1832 he opposed the reform bill, for which he was hooted at in the streets, the windows of Apsley house, his town residence, were smashed, and an attempt was made to burn his country house. In January, 1834, he was installed as chancellor of the university of Oxford. In 1834-'5 he was secretary of state for foreign affairs; and in 1841 he again became a member of the cabinet as minister without office, and supported Peel in his free-trade measures. In 1845-6 he was president of the privy council. On June 22,1852, he made his last speech in parliament. His death, from apoplexy, was generally considered a blow to the whole country, and the public grief was profound. His body lay in state five days at Chelsea, and on Nov. 22 a public funeral of unprecedented magnificence and honors followed his remains to St. Paul's cathedral. In person the duke was of middle height, strongly built, with keen gray eyes, a long face, an aquiline nose, and a cheerful countenance. He was apparently in full health the night before he died. - The more important biographies of Wellington are those of Wright (4 vols., London, 1839-'41), Maxwell (3 vols., 1839-'41; 6th ed., 1862), Stocqueler(2 vols., 1852-,3), Brialmont (3 vols., Paris, 1856-7; English translation with emendations and additions by Gleig, 4 vols., London, 1858-'60; popular abridged ed. revised, 1875), and Yonge (2 vols., 1860). See also the "Despatches of the Duke of Wellington during his various Campaigns," etc. (13 vols., London, 1834-'9; 2d series, 12 vols., 1844-'65), edited by Col. Gurwood; and the "Supplementary Despatches and Memoranda " (17 vols., 1858'73), edited by his son Arthur Richard, second duke of Wellington, who is preparing for publication (1876) a continuation of the supplementary series, with additional correspondence, and memoranda of the life of his father.