f Mornington, an Irish peer,
educated first at Chelsea, then at Eton, and then at a military school at
Angers, in France; entered the army in 1787 as an ensign in the 73rd, and
stepped gradually upwards in connection with different regiments, till in
1793 he became lieutenant-colonel of the 33rd; sat for a time in the
Irish Parliament as a member for Trim, and went in 1794 to the
Netherlands, and served in a campaign there which had disastrous issues
such as disgusted him with military life, and was about to leave the army
when he was sent to India, where he distinguished himself in the storming
of Seringapatam, and in the command of the war against the Mahrattas,
which he brought to a successful issue in 1803, returning home in 1805;
next year he entered the Imperial Parliament, and in 1807 was appointed
Chief Secretary for Ireland; in 1808 he left for Portugal, where he was
successful against the French in several engagements, and in 1809 was
appointed commander-in-chief of the Peninsular army; in this capacity his
generalship became conspicuous in a succession of victories, in which he
drove the French first out of Portugal and then out of Spain, defeating
them finally at Toulouse on the 12th April 1814, and so ending the
Peninsular War; on his return home he was loaded with honours, and had
voted to him from the public treasury a grant of L400,000; on the return
of Napoleon from Elba he was appointed general of the allies against him
in the Netherlands and on 18th June 1815 defeated him in the
ever-memorable battle of Waterloo; this was the crowning feat in
Wellington's military life, and the nation showed its gratitude to him
for his services by presenting him with the estate of Strathfieldsaye, in
Hampshire, worth L263,000, the price paid for it to Lord Rivers, the
proprietor; in 1827 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army, and
in 1828 was Prime Minister of the State; as a statesman he was opposed to
Parliamentary reform, but he voted for the emancipation of the Catholics
and the abolition of the Corn Laws; he died in Walmer Castle on 1st
September 1852, aged 84, and was buried beside Nelson in a crypt of St.
Paul's (1769-1852).

WELLINGTON COLLEGE, a college founded in 1853 at Wokingham, Berks,
in memory of the Duke of Wellington, primarily for the education of the
sons of deceased military officers; there is a classical school to
prepare for the university, and a modern side to prepare for the army,
&