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
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington his brother's term as Governor-General of India ended in March 1805, the brothers returned together to England on HMS "Howe". Arthur, coincidentally, stopped on his voyage at the little island of Saint Helena and stayed in the same building to which Napoleon I would later be exiled. In September 1805, Major-General Wellesley was newly returned from his campaigns in India and was not yet particularly well known to the public. He reported to the office of the Secretary for War to request a new assignment. In the waiting room he met Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, already a legendary figure after his