Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington after "half a lifetime together, they had come to understand each other at the end". He had found consolation for his unhappy marriage in his warm friendship with the diarist Harriet Arbuthnot, wife of his colleague Charles Arbuthnot. Harriet's death in the cholera epidemic of 1834 was almost as great a blow to Wellington as it was to her husband. The two widowers spent their last years together at Apsley House. Wellington died at Walmer Castle in Deal on 14 September 1852. This was his residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Walmer Castle was said to have been
Lord-lieutenant of London and the Warden of the Cinque Ports were "ex-officio" lieutenants for the Tower Hamlets and Cinque Ports respectively, which were treated as counties in legislation regarding lieutenancy and militia affairs. The official title of the office at this time was His or Her Majesty's "Lieutenant for the county of x", but as almost all office-holders were peers of the realm, they were referred to as "Lord-Lieutenant". "An Act to make the Militia of this Kingdom more useful" (Geo 2, c.9) was passed by the Parliament of Ireland in 1715. This provided for the issuing of commissions to appoint