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| death_place = Walmer Castle, Kent, England | restingplace = St Paul's Cathedral, London | nationality = | religion = Church of Ireland | party = Tory (until 1834), Conservative (1834 onward) | spouse = Catherine Pakenham | children = Arthur Charles | signature = Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Signature.svg | allegiance = 25px United Kingdom | branch = British Army | serviceyears = 1787–1852 | rank = Field Marshal | commands = Commander-in-Chief of the British Army | battles = | mawards = }} Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain. His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. In 2002, he was number 15 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Wellesley was born in Dublin, belonging to 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. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, won a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Assaye in 1803. Wellesley rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, together with a Prussian army under Blücher. Wellesley's battle record is exemplary; he ultimately participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career. Wellesley is famous for his adaptive defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against a numerically superior force while minimising his own losses. He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive commanders of all time, and many of his tactics and battle plans are still studied in military academies around the world. After ending his active military career, Wellesley returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as part of the Tory party: from 1828 to 1830, and for a little less than a month in 1834. He oversaw the passage of the Catholic Relief Act 1829, but opposed the Reform Act 1832. He continued as one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement and remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death. == Early life and education == Wellesley was born into a wealthy Anglo-Irish aristocratic family in the Kingdom of Ireland as the Honourable Arthur Wesley,〔Wellesley (2008). p. 16.〕 the third of five surviving sons (fourth otherwise) to the 1st Earl of Mornington and his wife Anne, eldest daughter of the 1st Viscount Dungannon. As such he belonged to the Protestant Ascendancy.〔Severn (2007). p. 13.〕 His biographers mostly follow the contemporary newspaper evidence in saying he was born 1 May 1769,〔Though 29 April is quoted as most likely by Ernest Marsh Lloyd, writing in the 〕 the day he was baptised.〔Guedalla (1997). p. 480. His baptismal font was donated to St. Nahi's Church in Dundrum, Dublin, in 1914.〕 His birthplace is uncertain. He was most likely born at his parents' townhouse, 24 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, now the Merrion Hotel.〔 p. 170. Retrieved 17 March 2012〕 But his mother, Anne, Countess of Mornington, recalled in 1815 that he had been born at 6 Merrion Street, Dublin.〔Wellesley (2008). p. 16. "Anne Mornington insisted she remembered the details: 1 May 1769, at 6 Merrion Street, Dublin – an elegant new townhouse round the corner from St Stephen's Green, the largest public square in Europe."〕 Other places have been put forward as the location of his birth, including Mornington House (the house next door on Upper Merrion) – as his father had asserted; the Dublin packet boat;〔Wellesley (2008). p. 14. Longford says "there is no valid argument" for this choice〕 and the mansion in the family estate of Athy (consumed in the fires of 1916) – as the Duke apparently put on his 1851 census return.〔Holmes (2002). p. 7.〕 He spent most of his childhood at his family's two homes, the first a large house in Dublin and the second, Dangan Castle, north of Summerhill on the Trim Road in County Meath.〔Holmes (2002). pp. 6–7.〕 In 1781, Arthur's father died and his eldest brother Richard inherited his father's earldom.〔 He went to the diocesan school in Trim when at Dangan, Mr Whyte's Academy when in Dublin, and Brown's School in Chelsea when in London. He then enrolled at Eton, where he studied from 1781 to 1784.〔Holmes (2002). p. 8.〕 His loneliness there caused him to hate it, and makes it highly unlikely that he actually said, "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton," a quote which is often attributed to him. Moreover, Eton had no playing fields at the time. In 1785, a lack of success at Eton, combined with a shortage of family funds due to his father's death, forced the young Wellesley and his mother to move to Brussels.〔 Until his early twenties, Arthur showed little sign of distinction and his mother grew increasingly concerned at his idleness, stating, "I don't know what I shall do with my awkward son Arthur."〔Holmes (2002). p. 9.〕 A year later, Arthur enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he progressed significantly, becoming a good horseman and learning French, which was later to prove very useful.〔Holmes (2002). pp. 19–20.〕 Upon returning to England in late 1786, he astonished his mother with his improvement.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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