DUKE (ARTHUR WELLESLEY) OF WELLINGTON (GREAT BRITIAN) - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/30 - HFSID 169068
Price: $600.00
ARTHUR WELLESLEY, 1ST DUKE OF WELLINGTON
Nineteenth-century military and political figure writes charming
letter to female acquaintance, lamenting the deprivation of her company
Autograph letter signed: "Wellington" in black ink. 1 page
front and verso, 4¾x7½. London, England. May 30. In full: "My dear
Miss Harcourt I assure you that nobody laments more sincerely than I do the
[2-word proper noun illegible] which I conclude has deprived me of the
pleasure of your company and that of the Archbishop this day; and has induced
His Grace to postpone to a future occasion, the reception of the company who I
have waited upon here on Saturday. Believe me I am yours most sincerely".
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 soiled and toned. Normal mailing folds. ¼x½-inch segment
missing from lower right corner. Fragment of a dealer's ink stamp at left of
bottom edge on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.
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