Likely apocryphal. It isn't in the massive official "Despatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington" and the exaggerated, humorous style is not characteristic.
morsch 20 hours ago [-]
Thanks, I read through a few pages and found it a more interesting read than the original link.
E.g. here he's complaining to the undersecretary of state:
Also, the letter is allegedly (1) dated 1812 and (2) signed "Wellington". In 1812 he was still plain old Arthur Wellesley; he wasn't duked[1] until 1814.
[1] I am sure this is not actually the right term. I do not care.
junto 9 hours ago [-]
It doesn’t exist as a term, but I always thought “enduked” would have been a nice term for this process.
Instead it’s the more wordy “created a duke”, since his status was both created and granted to him. The title “Duke of Wellington” was expressly created for him.
Fun fact, he should have been “Duke of Wellesley”, but his elder brother, Richard Wellesley, had already been made Marquess Wellesley.
Since the peerage from Viscount to Marquess to Duke would ended up with two brothers potentially sharing the same title, they chose to give Arthur the title Viscount Wellington, from the town where the family heritage was connected to.
Therefore his title peerage line:
Viscount Wellington -> Earl of Wellington -> Marquess of Wellington -> Duke of Wellington
He was also technically a Baron before Viscount but he received that peerage the same day as his Viscount title.
Outside British peerage he held some other cool honors and titles. As well as being the Prince of Waterloo in Belgium the the Netherlands, he was granted the honor of “Knight of the Golden Fleece” in Spain, “Knight of the Black Eagle” in Prussia, and my personal favorite was “Knight of the Elephant” in Denmark.
In the UK we have lots of reminders of him namely because of the large number of pubs called “The Duke of Wellington”.
Yes (I think). In this particular case I believe you could also say he was created duke (since he was the first Duke of Wellington); I think one would have to say that the second Duke of Wellington succeeded to the dukedom.
mef 18 hours ago [-]
Belorded?
wewtyflakes 15 hours ago [-]
Aristocratified?
jszymborski 13 hours ago [-]
Landed?
13 hours ago [-]
18 hours ago [-]
cjs_ac 21 hours ago [-]
Why would Wellington have to answer to the Foreign Office for the administration of the forces under his command when that was the responsibility of the War Office?
ggm 20 hours ago [-]
Entertaining if fictive. His comments to his army and his own role in the victory are I hope better attested to.
BigTTYGothGF 21 hours ago [-]
There's no way that's not a joke written many decades or more later.
RobotToaster 22 hours ago [-]
Technically from Sir Arthur Wellesley, he wasn't made duke until 1814.
TacticalCoder 19 hours ago [-]
> Tis of no matter your Highness, I have seen their backs before
Don't know whether that's true or not (that the Duke of Wellington said that) but... One year later (1815), he handed the french's arses back to them big, big, big, times at Waterloo.
Basically the battle of Waterloo (a few kilometers away from where I was born) is considered the time when the UK overtook France as the world's number one superpower.
Since then both have only ever been falling in the rankings and it doesn't look like that fall is going to stop anytime soon but that's another topic.
jemmyw 18 hours ago [-]
> is considered the time when the UK overtook France as the world's number one superpower.
But unlikely a result of said battle, rather the instability of politics in France.
Us British oft think of Waterloo as a great victory, although the circumstances, participants and objectives were pretty nuanced. Wellington himself rejected congratulations and thought battle to have very high cost.
B1FF_PSUVM 18 hours ago [-]
> superpower
That's an anachronism, from the 19th to mid-20th century there were just "great powers", not perfectly matched but considered to be in the same class. The Ottoman empire falling off the league ("sick old man") was a bit of a shocker.
E.g. here he's complaining to the undersecretary of state:
https://archive.org/details/dispatchesoffiel10welluoft/page/...
Here (and a few lines on the page before) is a long letter with his advice on how to reconstitute the (allied) government of Spain:
https://archive.org/details/dispatchesoffiel10welluoft/page/...
[1] I am sure this is not actually the right term. I do not care.
Instead it’s the more wordy “created a duke”, since his status was both created and granted to him. The title “Duke of Wellington” was expressly created for him.
Fun fact, he should have been “Duke of Wellesley”, but his elder brother, Richard Wellesley, had already been made Marquess Wellesley.
Since the peerage from Viscount to Marquess to Duke would ended up with two brothers potentially sharing the same title, they chose to give Arthur the title Viscount Wellington, from the town where the family heritage was connected to.
Therefore his title peerage line:
Viscount Wellington -> Earl of Wellington -> Marquess of Wellington -> Duke of Wellington
He was also technically a Baron before Viscount but he received that peerage the same day as his Viscount title.
Outside British peerage he held some other cool honors and titles. As well as being the Prince of Waterloo in Belgium the the Netherlands, he was granted the honor of “Knight of the Golden Fleece” in Spain, “Knight of the Black Eagle” in Prussia, and my personal favorite was “Knight of the Elephant” in Denmark.
In the UK we have lots of reminders of him namely because of the large number of pubs called “The Duke of Wellington”.
Don't know whether that's true or not (that the Duke of Wellington said that) but... One year later (1815), he handed the french's arses back to them big, big, big, times at Waterloo.
Basically the battle of Waterloo (a few kilometers away from where I was born) is considered the time when the UK overtook France as the world's number one superpower.
Since then both have only ever been falling in the rankings and it doesn't look like that fall is going to stop anytime soon but that's another topic.
But unlikely a result of said battle, rather the instability of politics in France.
Us British oft think of Waterloo as a great victory, although the circumstances, participants and objectives were pretty nuanced. Wellington himself rejected congratulations and thought battle to have very high cost.
That's an anachronism, from the 19th to mid-20th century there were just "great powers", not perfectly matched but considered to be in the same class. The Ottoman empire falling off the league ("sick old man") was a bit of a shocker.