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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

British Field Marshal, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1828–1830, 1834 (1769-1852)

  • Fame67.2
  • Momentum0.2
  • Wikipedia107.6K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1769–1852, aged 83
PoliticiansPolitician
  • Wikipedia
    85 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1769–1852
    Aged 83
  • Awards
    35
    recognised works
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

The man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo — and then spent the next thirty-seven years trying to beat back political reform in Britain. Wellington came home a field marshal and left Parliament a rearguard Conservative, proof that genius on the battlefield doesn't always translate.

Biography

About

Born into the Protestant Ascendancy in Dublin in 1769, Wellesley was commissioned as an ensign in 1787 and spent his early career as aide-de-camp in Ireland while serving in the Irish House of Commons. Sent to India as a colonel, he ended the Anglo-Mysore wars by defeating Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam in 1799, then crushed the Maratha Confederacy at Assaye in 1803 as a major general. His reputation was secured in the Peninsular War, where victory at Vitoria in 1813 earned him promotion to field marshal and, after Napoleon's first exile, a dukedom. In 1815, commanding a British-led coalition alo…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
said
Up, Guards, and at them again.
— Said at the Battle of Waterloo, as quoted in a letter from a Captain Batty of the Foot Guards (22 June 1815), often misquoted as "Up Guards
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
said
Hard pounding this, gentlemen; let's see who will pound longest.
— At the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), as quoted by Sir Walter Scott, in Paul's Letters to His Kinsfolk (1815).
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
said
Uxbridge: By God, sir, I've lost my leg! Wellington: By God, sir, so you have!
— Exchange said to have occurred at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), after Lord Uxbridge lost his leg to a cannonball; as quoted in
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
said
It has been a damned serious business... Blucher and I have lost 30,000 men. It has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. … By God!
— Remark to Thomas Creevey (18 June 1815), using the word nice in an older sense of "uncertain, delicately balanced", about the Battle of
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
said
Who will attack first tomorrow?
— Wellington's response, on the night of 17th June 1815, to The Earl of Uxbridge's (his second-in-command) request to know the British Army's
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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
67.2
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum0.2
Historical27.9
Now attention1.3
Source confidence60.0
Completeness60.0
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Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence