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
HMS Lord Warden (1865) side of the upper deck, was protected by wrought-iron armour that tapered from at the ends to amidships. It extended below the waterline. The forward chase guns on the upper deck were protected by 4.5-inch armour plates on the sides of the hull and a 4.5-inch transverse bulkhead to their rear protected them from raking fire. The armour was backed by of oak and the iron skin of the ship. "Lord Warden", named after the position of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, was ordered on 25 May 1863 from Chatham Naval Dockyard. She was laid down on 24