DUKE (ARTHUR WELLESLEY) OF WELLINGTON (GREAT BRITIAN) - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 01/06/1819 - HFSID 78504
Price: $600.00
ARTHUR WELLESLEY, DUKE OF WELLINGTON
The famed Duke writes to the Countess of Harcourt, informing her he
is unable to consider her recommendation for office, less than a month after
being elected Master-General of the Ordnance in 1818
Autograph Letter signed: "Wellington" in brown ink. 1 page,
front and verso, 5x8 flat. London, England. 1819 January 6. To the
Countess of Harcourt. In part: "I have received your Ladyship's
letter...I have been so short a time at the ordnance & I know so little of the
routine of the Office & of its business...." He cannot consider a man she
has recommended for an office. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
(1769-1852) was a British soldier and statesman, and is remembered as one
of the most influential figures of the early nineteenth century. A native of
Ireland and a member of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy (English Protestants who
resided in Ireland and held significant influence), Wellesley was commissioned
as an ensign (equal to a second lieutenant) in 1787 in Ireland, and served as an
aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland before he was elected
as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. Elevated to a colonel
by 1796, Wellesley made a name for himself in the Netherlands and in India in
the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War's Battle of Seringapatam, after which he was
appointed Governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799, as well as promoted to
the rank of major-general. After winning a decisive victory over the Martha
Confederacy in the Battle of Assaye in 1803, he was made into a general and
gained prominence during the Peninsular campaign (1807-1814) during the Napoleon
Wars. After a victory against the French in the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, he
was promoted to the rank of field marshal (one of the highest ranks in an
army). With Napoleon's exile in 1814, Wellesley was granted a dukedom and
named ambassador to France. Upon Napoleon's return and the subsequent Hundred
Days in 1815, Wellesley (now referred to as the Duke of Wellington) commanded
the Allied army which, alongside the Prussian army under their own field marshal
Blucher, famously defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
Wellington's battle record is one of history's most exemplary, and he
participated in over sixty battles throughout his military career; his famed
adaptive defensive style warfare and extensive planning before battles resulted
in several victories against numerically superior forces, and his plans and
tactics are still studied throughout the world today. The Duke of Wellington
turned to politics after the Napoleonic Wars, twice serving as Prime Minister
(1828-1830, 1834-1834), most famously overseeing the passage of the Catholic
Relief Act of 1829; he remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until
his death. Lightly creased. Slightly soiled. Folds, not at signature.
Overall, fine condition.
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