Military career of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Military career of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was one of the leading British military and political figures of the 19th century. Often referred to only as "The Duke of Wellington", he led a successful military career in India during the Fourth Anglo–Mysore War (1798–99) and the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805), and in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). Starting his career in 1787 as a commissioned officer in the infantry, before seeing his first action in the Flanders Campaign, Wellesley rose in rank by purchasing
Lord George Wellesley Military Cross in 1916. Lord Arthur Wellesley married Louise Nesta Pamela FitzGerald, daughter of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Baronet, and Amelia Catherine Bischoffsheim, on 12 March 1917 at Saint Thomas Church in Manhattan, New York City. She was the widow of his elder brother Richard. Lord Arthur Wellesley was appointed a wing commander in the RFC, with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel, on 1 October 1917. He gained the rank of squadron leader in 1939 in the service of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR). He fought in the Second World War between 1939 and 1945. He was