Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as Prime Minister. His victory against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 puts him in the first rank of Britain's military heroes. Wellesley was born in Dublin into the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland.
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