DUKE (ARTHUR WELLESLEY) OF WELLINGTON (GREAT BRITIAN) - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/05/1833 - HFSID 78529
Price: $800.00
ARTHUR WELLESLEY, 1ST DUKE OF WELLINGTON
Handwritten, signed letter from the Duke of Wellington, written in French and dated
1833
Autograph letter signed: "Wellington", 4¾x7¼, 2 pages (integral leaf). September 5, 1833. In
French, untranslated. 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. Normal
mailing folds. Slight surface creases. Lightly toned. Corners lightly worn. Slightly soiled.
Otherwise, fine condition.
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